Droplets that Disappear into the Rain
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: [drabble collection] They are small moments, insignificant in the grand tale of life, but someone thinks them worthy enough to note.
1. I'll cover it with blush and eye-liner

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Lavender/Parvati  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Slash/Femslash Boot Camp (prompt #001 – please), February Femslash Competition

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><p>I'll cover it with blush and eye-liner, giggling and flirting with the boys while I hang off your arm, marking your skin with my claws.<p>

Because they are claws, aren't they? You wouldn't be here with me if they weren't; you hadn't even worn eyeliner or lipstick or blush until I begged and pleaded until you caved and I gave you a makeover – and you didn't need them either. Your dark oily skin – unlike my belly-pale and too dry and patched up the arms where I'd burnt as a child in a sundress. Your gorgeously silky hair – that I could only run my fingers down under the pretence of braiding it.

If only you'd turn around before I ask and whisper your love to me, then I wouldn't have to fear I've clawed you into that as well.


	2. She was supposed to know it all

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Lavender/Trewalny  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Slash/Femslash Boot Camp (prompt #002 – damage), February Femslash Competition

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><p>She was supposed to know it all; they'd thought so anyway, hung on to her every word. But her prelude to the war had paled in significance to the whirlwind that had blown their lives away, and the sparse dribbles she'd manage to give them nothing in the face of the despair the darkness bleed. How could she not foresee such important things? They thought. How could she not foresee Hogwart's fate?<p>

Lavender, alone in her dorm, wondered why Trewalny still remained. Why she stayed locked up in her tower, why the Death Eaters left her and her class alone. Maybe she _was_ a fraud that no-one feared – it was hard to believe anyone or anything when traitors lurked behind every shadow.

But Lavender wanted Trewaly and her foresight to be real, even if her faith in it had been damaged.


	3. They called him the lion that slayed

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Character<strong>: Godic Gryffindor  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Bingo Card Drabble Competition, Round 6 (number 30)

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><p>They called him the lion that slayed the dragon, but they knew little at all about lions, or about him.<p>

Godric had Bessa to tell about her kind, and she told him: how the Lioness was the aggressor, the fighter that went on the hunt, while the men simply stayed selfishly on guard. She told how the men wandered off alone while the women came together with others and their cubs. She told how the women belonged to just one man: the one man who could pick off the other lonely warriors while lying in wait.

Godric almost wished he was a woman, then. A lioness was brave and strong and fought for their friends and their cubs: the lion had no friends, and their fight was only for material things: territory, and women to bed. He wished more often the title was given to his wife instead: a lioness was a thing to be proud of, and they had a child Godric could not imagine leaving for the world.

As for the dragon…he'd slain it for threatening to stand on the graves of his dearest friends.


	4. She was only there for a year

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Fleur/Lisa  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Slash/Femslash Boot Camp (prompt #003 – year), February Femslash Competition

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><p>She was only there for a year, but she was so alluring plain little Lisa Turpin could not help but fall into the temporary statis of love with her.<p>

Oh, she knew it wasn't love. She knew it was just a passing crush that would fade the moment the goddess passed, but the year was young and she was just growing into the age where she thought about her love and sexuality, where she wondered how it would feel to have the light that all the boys were chasing after, how it would feel to be bathed in that gentle glow of beauty and grace and cleverness, everything she wasn't.

She might be a Ravenclaw, but she was starved for the sort of perfection that seemed to rival Rowena Ravenclaw herself: that symbol that stood in their Common Room, revered by every student that passed through the entrance hole. But Ravenclaw was just the image of a dream, and Fleur was a much closer reality.


	5. She asked if it was wrong to like

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Gabrielle/Fleur  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Slash/Femslash Boot Camp (prompt #004 – question), February Femslash Competition

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><p>She asked if it was wrong to like another girl, the way a girl liked a boy. When the answer was yes, she didn't ask if it was wrong to like her sister in that way. That would be worse.<p>

But Fleur seemed to know, or maybe it was because she tried to spend more time with her, hold her hand and hug her longer until she was playing monopoly with her time. But her elder sister would be careful where she touched, and for how long, tiptoeing gently while Gabrielle stomped her impatience into the floor.

When Gabrielle snapped and demanded a kiss, Fleur planted a hesitant one on her forehead.


	6. His friends were dead, and yet

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Character<strong>: Dennis Bishop  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Collect Them All Challenge (175. Dennis Bishop, prompt: funeral)

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><p>His friends were dead, and yet he was just a blank face in a suit.<p>

Murmurs of worry rippled through the funeral grounds, and Dennis wished they would touch him, his heart, but they wouldn't. They couldn't; his heart was sealed away tight. He wished it would crack, but he doubted even a hammer to shatter the thick scab that coated the hurt.

He couldn't even think of what had caused it. He couldn't remember – and he couldn't try to remember, because _that_ was when he crumbled, became nothing but a soggy mess in the mud instead of the silent vigilant in front of his friends' graves.

His priorities were screwed up, but he could do nothing about that. It was how he'd been put together, how he'd been taped up after crumbling – however he'd crumbed. He couldn't think about that. He didn't want to think about that.

Even the deaths of his friends couldn't reach into that depth. They couldn't even scrape off the scabs, and Dennis could only feel empty regret in that he couldn't give his friends' death the sadness it deserved.


	7. That howl in the first full moon night

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Character<strong>: Remus Lupin  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Simply Supernatural Boot Camp (prompt #001 – werewolf)

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><p>That howl in the first full moon night shattered his fragile mind.<p>

He hadn't yet recognised the source of that howl: his own mouth, the snout of which is stretched until he can make out its tip. He hasn't recognised the long fingers tapered off with claws digging into dry soul, or the curved spine that forced his head low.

He was still shaking from pain and in a haze. He could see the moon, feel it scream into his ears until his eardrums burst. He could hear the howl echoing into the forest in the distance, could feel the longing in his heart to find the perpetuator of that howl.

He takes a step, then another, then he leaps forth until he crashes into a solid wall upon which he throws himself, snarling and scratching and thinking nothing of it at all. Another howl escapes his mouth, and all he can think of is the company he's denied – until the moon slips away and pain seizes his mind and locks his limbs, and they change.

It feels so unnatural that his claws come up to scrape the change away, until he is human again and bleeding and shaking from the pain.

The next full moon, his mind is devoured before that first howl, by the blood that had sunk into the earthen floor. The wounds were deeper that moon, and every moon after – save the first that had been only a lonely drive.


	8. To be a Veela was both a blessing and

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Fleur Delacour/Unnamed female  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Scattegories Challenge (F – Fleur Delacour, First kiss), Februrary Femslash Competition

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><p>To be a Veela was both a blessing and a curse. She was proud: it was her heritage, her right, and her persona. But it also made it difficult to find a friend not wrought in either jealousy or love.<p>

Often, she imagined what it would be like to have a kiss on equality and familiarity, as opposed to blinded desire. Often, she wondered whether the cheap substitute was worth stroking the loneliness in her heart, whether the blood and magic were worth the scorn she got from girls her age.

But while it seemed all males were destined to fall to a Veela's charm, all females were not to frown at it. There was one she met, eventually, who couldn't care less about men. Someone who wasn't affected by her Veela charm, and didn't care of it or its power.

And when they shared a kiss – her first truly heart-felt kiss – it was that equal and familiar and mind-blowing one she had always sought.


	9. It was just a thrill, but it gave her

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Bellatrix/Alice  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Slash/Femslash Boot Camp (prompt #005 – curse), February Femslash Competition

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><p>It was just a spell, but it gave her such a thrill.<p>

She hadn't a drop of love for the sickening woman, and she had no doubt that dear sweet Alice Longbottom thought the same. But she could still enjoy the tingle that spread down her body from the unfamiliar touch, could still drink in the hungrily empty gaze with a grin on her face.

It was even more thrilling to know that poor little Frank was watching their every dance, watching how his wife's wand hung limp and her hands were tied up in puppet strings. Watching her dance with her enemy while others tortured him – and she had her hand in the torture: this, his wife. Toying with her, playing with her until she couldn't keep the giggles clamped in her throat or the shiver from her spine, then turning her wand and watching her writher on the ground without a scream until her robes grew damp with the thrill.

There was horror in no-one's eyes by then; little Frank wasn't strong enough to be able to watch his wife _all_ the time. Especially not while her husband and his friends had their way with the man.


	10. She lacked passion her responses were

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Bellatrix/Narcissa.  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Slash/Femslash Boot Camp (prompt #006 – sarcastic), February Femslash Competition

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><p>She lacked passion; her responses were always sharp and clipped, but somehow that was what drew her to play with her little sister, to watch her crack. She enjoyed that; enjoyed the way she could feel things the rest of the world would frown at, and be happy with it. Because their house was protected from such narrow-minded foolishness: there were no frowns against thoughts of love or perfection or blood.<p>

It was just a shame that Narcissa was such a prissy little thing, who liked her order. Oh, she could be so cold and callous and the perfect juxtaposition to her wild sister, but Bellatrix would often wish she could make her dolly little sister shatter.

But Narcissa played with Bellatrix too, and it was in her best interests to not lose the game – except when she was out of Bellatrix's sight, where she laughed with giddiness and let cold water wash away her euphoria. Because they were always playing war, and Narcissa's cold front and even more controlled tongue were the ultimate defence against the hurricane that was Bellatrix.


	11. There was never a dull moment in the

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: N. Tonks/Hestia  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Slash/Femslash Boot Camp (prompt #007 – explosion), February Femslash Competition

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><p>There was never a dull moment in the office with Tonks around. In fact, most of their misshaps could be traced back to her.<p>

Like when Hestia's ink jar had exploded while Tonks attempted to magik the paperwork complete. Or when Hestia's desk had collapsed in on itself while Tonks tried to fix the weather disaster. Or when Hestia found her robes on fire, while Tonks tried to help with the spring cleaning.

Although Hestia knew by then she wouldn't be getting any cleaning done if she asked Tonks to help. But it wasn't the cleaning she wanted anyway – despite Tonks' guilty (and cute) apology. It was the company. It was the laughs. It was the way everything crumbled in a _good_ way whenever the young Auror was there.

And Hestia bathed in that feeling Tonks brought with her, wherever she went. And let it bath her office, so it could stick around like potpourri, like the lingering scent of her perfume, after the young woman had gone again.


	12. Even when there was only one Weasley

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Characters<strong>: Molly Weasley, Bill Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Connect the Weasleys Challenge – The 36 Pack (Molly/Bill, crash); Weasleys, Weasleys and More Weasleys! Challenge

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><p>Even when there was only one Weasley child, Molly sometimes thought there were at least five. The crashes, bangs and Reparo spells couldn't be explained otherwise – because Bill was eager and adventurous and wouldn't let difficulty stand before him.<p>

Molly tried to teach him caution, but it wasn't until Charlie was born did Bill actually, learn, when little mishaps resulted in more than bruises and puffy cheeks: in wails and time outs that lasted far longer than usual and apologies he couldn't help but give at his little brother's adorable face.

But he was still wild inside, so Molly couldn't confess herself too surprised to hear his chosen career path when the time came.


	13. Charlie wasn't as book smart as Bill or

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Characters<strong>: Bill Weasley, Percy Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Connect the Weasleys Challenge – The 36 Pack (Bill/Percy, futile); Weasleys, Weasleys and More Weasleys! Challenge

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><p>Charlie wasn't as book smart as Bill or Percy, and he was glad. At least he avoided getting tangled in their arguments about study habits.<p>

Percy went by the list and the Hogwarts library; if something should fail him there, it would be to teachers he would go. But Bill tended to think outside the box; he'd often order books from Dragon Alley, improvise when his wealth of knowledge failed, or ask his seniors for their opinion. If he thought a certain mix of spells could wind up explosive, he'd ask a teacher – preferably one of the more open-minded ones who didn't mind a student growing outside their curriculum.

Not Percy; Percy would never try anything that wasn't already tried and true. And, for the longest time, it was futile to convince him otherwise, just as it was futile to stop Bill's adventurous mind.


	14. Teddy had started Hogwarts by the time

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Characters<strong>: Teddy Lupin, Hugo Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Connect the Weasleys Challenge – The 78 Pack (Teddy/Hugo, words)

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><p>Teddy had started Hogwarts by the time Hugo was born, so he didn't see the younger from the Weasley line as often as he had the others. He'd even seen Lily grow a bit before he began; she'd been born in June, and he'd started that September.<p>

But he found out about Hugo's birth via Owl Post a day later, and all he'd seen of the tiny little baby had been through Wizarding photos. And it was letters that told him about Hugo's first toy, his first crawl, his first step, his first tooth…

And by the time Teddy finally met Hugo, the little boy was waddling around like a penguin and spitting out words.


	15. Percy heard about his brother being sick

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Characters<strong>: Percy Weasley, Ron Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Connect the Weasleys Challenge – The 36 Pack (Percy/Ron, contagious); Weasleys, Weasleys and More Weasleys! Challenge

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><p>Percy heard about his brother being sick, but it came at a time in which he could do nothing. The Ministry kept him under tight surveillance, but even if they hadn't, he's said and done too terrible things to his family to be able to just walk through the front door.<p>

Part of him had always known he was wrong, but the rest had stubbornly fought for his dream: to be in a position of power, a position where _he_ could make a difference and set the world on its righteous course. But he'd been kidding himself, and it had taken years for him to accept it; not even the current Minister, the puppet of Voldermort, could change the path of the world.

He consoled himself by thinking that spagherotti was contagious anyway, that he wouldn't be able to do anything even if he wasn't estranged, even if he hadn't argued with his parents or tried to interfere with his brother's friends – but that was for his own good, he argued. And his family wouldn't even be under such tight scrutiny if they'd never befriended Harry Potter.


	16. The tombstone began a pristine white

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

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><p><strong>Characters<strong>: Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Scattergories Challenge (T/W – white tomb, weary), The Snakes and Ladders Challenge (Albus Dumbledore)

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><p>The tombstone began a pristine white, but in the year of war and neglect that followed, it became permanently stained with grey. Harry had tried to clean it, yet every spell he knew slipped off the marble sheen. Eventually, he accepted that Dumbledore had wanted his tomb this way: a symbol not of the perfect wisdom most saw, but the folly that wisdom brought underneath as well.<p>

It amused him, a little, that Dumbledore had power over both his death and his grave. The quest to become the master of death…Harry wonder if Dumbledore _had_ achieved it, without trying, in the end. The person who chose their own death, who walked towards death like a friend – he wondered if anyone who was weary at the end of life could be that master of death.

Dumbledore might have said it was him, but he was still alive and his life had finally turned away from an exhausting war and towards the resting light.


	17. Victorie and Teddy grew up together

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Teddy/Victorie  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Connect the Weasleys Challenge – The 78 Pack (Teddy/Victorie, first kiss)

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><p>Victorie and Teddy grew up together, almost. They didn't quite stay under the same roof, and they weren't exactly blood related – except pure blood supremacy had skewered bloodlines so badly they <em>had <em>to be related somewhere along the line. They didn't see each other all the time either, but they were the same age, and whenever their families – Teddy's grandmother or godfather, and Victories's entire extended family, which also happened to include Teddy's godfather by marriage to Victories's father's sister.

It was a bit of a mouthful, so they said they were "best friends", because it seemed so much simpler. And it wasn't as though Victorie knew all of Teddy's most embarrassing moments – or, at least, she hadn't before they were happily married – but both of them thought, afterwards, their first kiss would have been so terribly awkward of they had known each other so perfectly, and they'd probably have never done it again.


	18. Ginny had hoped to keep it a secret

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Ron Weasley, Ginny Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Connect the Weasleys Challenge – The 36 Pack (Ron/Ginny, secret); Weasleys, Weasleys and More Weasleys! Challenge

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><p>Ginny had hoped to keep it a secret from her brothers, but she forgot that Ron often felt as alienated as she.<p>

He caught on; she hadn't given her enough credit. Neither had he, because he'd laughed to find Charlie's broom in her hands, and Fred's too big Quidditch gear wrapped around. She'd angered, quickly, and challenged him to a one-on-one match: him playing Keeper against her as Chaser.

He'd played well, but even Ginny was surprised to find she was better. Ron had stormed off in a sulk afterwards, and Ginny had put away her brothers' gear and quickly followed, scared he'd tell. Because she wasn't supposed to be flying, much less sneaking out of the house at midnight to do it. And Ron had no reason not to tell, whichever card he used to do it.

Except he surprised her, again. He came other nights, and practised with her. He claimed it was his bruised pride – but getting any one of her brothers to admit bruised pride was an accomplishment.


	19. Dominique was prim and proper

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Dominique Weasley, James Potter  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Connect the Weasleys Challenge – The 78 Pack (Dominique/James, happy birthday)

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><p>Dominique was prim and proper; her cousin James was immaturity personified. Like when he'd given her a cake that sung a rather rude version of happy birthday as it ran whenever someone approached it with a knife, fork or spoon. Or that velvet cushion that farted whenever someone sat on it. She often hoped such "presents" would soon be classified as inappropriate by the Ministry and ban children from buying them – but then again, their Uncle George owned the joke shop so James could always her an insider deal.<p>

Dominique didn't think that very fair, since she was George's niece as much as James was his nephew, but she supposed it had to do with the kindred spirit they shared. She got the insider scoop on Ministry policies at least, with their Aunt Hermione preferring the more well-mannered and ambitious nieces and nephews…

But both of them had to admit that things would be very dull without James, or his teacher George, around.


	20. Ginny was always amused to see Albus

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Ginny Potter nee Weasley, Albus Potter, Harry Potter  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Family Boot Camp Challenge (Potter, #044 – duplicate)

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><p>Ginny was always amused to see Albus growing up to look more like his father every day. She could see barely anything of herself in him at all – but Lily and James managed to get most of her traits between them. It was nothing like Albus though, who didn't even have the natural Weasley confidence but was instead shy and soft-spoken like his father. Unless someone got him mad; then his shouting rivalled both parents.<p>

He had a bit of a mischievous sneak in him as well, something she would have been sure came from her if it wasn't for the Marauder blood from Harry's side. That always made her wonder if Harry would have grown up the same, if he could have grown up normally.

But Harry looked happy, FLT happy, and she could let go off depressing thoughts easily, watching instead simply how Albus grew up to look more like his father every day, spying on the little things that made him _her_ son as well, like how he wouldn't stand for bullying, or how quickly he'd picked up the bat-bogey hex.


	21. Remus had long since given up hope of

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Pairing: <strong>Remus/Tonks  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Star Light, Star Bright Challenge (#01 - Nebula)

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><p>Remus had long since given up hope of having a family, but that deep-buried desire had risen from the ashes of despair and set fire to a new hope. He had a family now. A beautiful wife who forgave him for all his self-doubt – with a few sharp words to straighten his head when he felt it spinning on a corkscrew. And now, in his arms, he had an adorable little boy as well: small tuft of hair changing from his sandy brown to Dora's currently sunny yellow to her favourite bubble-gum pink to a brilliant shade of blue…<p>

He couldn't keep the grin off his face or the tears from his eyes. He was overwhelmed, because it was a dream he hadn't even dared dream come true, and he knew he didn't deserve even a bit of it. Didn't deserve his wife, flushed after the effort of her birth, or the child in his arms still covered in fluid and cord attached, waiting for one of them to speak his name.

Dora gave him a smile: encouraging and permissive. _Go ahead_.

It took Remus a moment before he could.


	22. Rest in peace, Colin

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

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><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s): <strong>Colin Creevy, Dennis Creevy  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Star Light, Star Bright Challenge (#02 - Star)

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><p><em>Rest in peace, Colin<em>.

Or that's what everyone said anyhow. Except Colin wasn't supposed to rest in peace. He was supposed to bug people for an autograph until they caved and gave him one no-one else could possibly want. But Dennis knew Colin wanted them: he kept them and stuck them on his wall at home. With a Permanent Sticky Charm too; their father had almost had the room demolished when he couldn't tear down those memories.

Colin was still alive in those photos, and it scared their parents more than it scared Dennis, because Dennis had been to Hogwarts too. He'd seen moving photographs and portraits – and war. He hadn't seen his brother die though; no-one had. He'd…just died, a hero though no-one really knew why. They only knew he hadn't left when told, tried to fight an enemy too big for him.

Dennis didn't think that even Colin would have tried to take a photo at a time like that. He hadn't had his camera - but that didn't mean his photos didn't continue to live and fight their way into lives. Dennis couldn't burn those photos away though; Colin was alive in them, lively – and that was how he should be remembered, he thought. Not like a still corpse buried underground. That was just an imposter.


	23. If they had one thing, it was community

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s): <strong>Weasley Family  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Star Light, Star Bright Challenge (#03 – Red Giant)

* * *

><p>If they had one thing, it was community. They might have been poor. They might have been tainted (in a manner of opinion). But they had the sort of love that too many pureblood families had lost in their supremacy, and they had a hand wherever they looked.<p>

That hand might be the one to knock the jam off the table, or stick a trick wand into the pencil holder, or tinker with so-called illegal artefacts – but they were also the ones who set the table, who gave the gnomes a good schooling when they misbehaved, who pulled their weight when someone was in need of help.

They were poor, but big and happy. Sure, they had their disagreements, but they were all closer in the end because of it. And they were living, unlike too many other pureblood lines that had cut themselves to the point of extinction; they grew naturally, and in that naturalness accepted their family's love.


	24. She can look at the stars forever,

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Pairing: <strong>Luna/Neville  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Star Light, Star Bright Challenge (#04 – Red Dwarf)

* * *

><p>She can look at the stars forever, because they stay etched in the sky even when the smoke of war clouts them, and she'll never lose sight.<p>

He won't either; he too can look at the stars for eternity, reading the path that lies there.

Neither of them can predict the future, but both of them are firm believers in love and hope – and just as they can love and hope in the world, they can love and hope in each other as well.

She can see the stars even from her little cellar spot, and he from a room that protects him from the hounds. And both of them hope: hope in the day they can sit on the grassy lawn and watch the stars together, instead of far apart and in a dream.

But even in their isolation, the stars bear down upon them with their tidings.


	25. Hedwig's body had survived the crash

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s): <strong>Hedwig, Harry Potter  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Star Light, Star Bright Challenge (#05 – White Dwarf), Non-human character boot camp (#027 – stubborn)

* * *

><p>Hedwig's body had survived the crash.<p>

Somehow, that was important. Yes, Hedwig was dead, but she was also his first friend. She deserved better than having her body blown to bits and lost in a stranger's backyard.

She deserved better than dying for being at his feet, but they'd been together for so long Harry couldn't imagine her being anywhere else. Couldn't imagine a scene where she hadn't been there, where the crossfire couldn't have caught her and struck her down. That scene was too complete – just like he couldn't imagine Hermione or Ron ever leaving him, no matter how much he wished they could just say safe…

But at least he could give Hedwig the final goodbye she deserved.


	26. It was lurking for a long time but when

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s): <strong>no specifics  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Star Light, Star Bright Challenge (#06 – Supernova)

* * *

><p>It was lurking for a long time but when it reared its head, it exploded.<p>

The world was in a chaos so sudden, very few of them were prepared. Most of them had denied: denied such horrors would come forth again. But they had come, and it had become too late to do anything tangled as they were, in layers upon layers of spider web.

Even those who had known and believed the tide was coming floundered in it. Those who said it wouldn't be as bad as the first war were wrong; those who said it would be easier to win again were wrong. Sure, it took less time – but in that time so much more was destroyed. Instead of being a stifling smoke it was an explosion with the force of blowing a country off the map – and rubble was far harder to work with than worn down pieces when it came to creating a new world.

At least…they had closer at the end of this war. They had Voldermort's body: proof that it was over, this time for good.


	27. The world was a vile, rotten place

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s): <strong>Tom Marvalo Riddle  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Star Light, Star Bright Challenge (#07 – Black Hole)

* * *

><p>The world was a vile, rotten place, and he needed to fix it.<p>

That was his original goal, and a noble one, but he soon became engulfed in making it a reality. He became obsessed in creating the perfect world: _his_ world, where none of the filth he saw in it remained.

It was a large task, and it was one that required more than his life. And so he studied. He researched. He found a way to twist time to his advantage – and once he had, he began his rebuilding in earnest, dismantling the world so he could rebuild it again in the image of his dream: the perfect image.

Somewhere along the line, perfection had become blackened like tartar on a smoker's lungs, but he never noticed it. Not even when it all crumbled down; he was too obsessed with the perfection he sought to notice how viciously it had twisted and become the snake.


	28. Padma is not supposed to feel so tingly

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Pairing: <strong>Padma/Lucy  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Decisions, Decisions Round 1 (romance, PadmaLucy, whisper, "Poison and Wine" by the Civil Wars, tempting), February Femslash Competition

* * *

><p>Padma is not supposed to feel so tingly when the bouncy little red-head squirms in her lap. Her skin is not supposed to flush warm when she whispers in her ear with that innocent little voice, whispers sweet nothings that Lucy's picked up from Muggle movies she sneaks out with her friends to watch on days. She's not supposed to want to spin the little girl in a less than pure dance as the lyrics of Poison and Wine tumble from untrained lips. And she's not supposed to want to kiss those lips when they're stained from bloodpops.<p>

But little Lucy is so tempting that Padma cannot help but feel this way. Her eyes cannot help but follow the little girl bounce her way through life and grow. But she waits, waits despite the desire throbbing through her every bone, because it is wrong, _wrong_ – and yet, as Lucy grows older and more beautiful and the baby fat seeps out of her, Padma has trouble telling herself that it's still _oh so wrong_, because Lucy's growing up and Padma hasn't changed much, and it doesn't seem very wrong at all to be in love.


	29. Peter had never felt so small, yet so

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s):<strong> Peter Pettigrew  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> Hook a Prompt Challenge, 01 (#005 – Marauder's Era)

* * *

><p>Peter had never felt so small, yet so significant, than the first time he transformed into a rat.<p>

He was the last of his friends to do it, and when he returned to his human state they confessed themselves concerned he might have blown himself up instead. Peter grinned and showed them their form again, as they'd evidentially missed it the first time.

They still seemed rather surprised when he transformed back, and this time Peter was a little bitter. He'd hoped for exuberance, like when Sirius and James had first successfully transformed, but all he got were strained, still-shocked, smiles.

Maybe it was his form, he thought to himself as he looked his rat form over later and alone. Maybe his friends had been hoping for something…tougher.

Maybe _he'd_ been hoping for that as well, and with that thought his five seconds of fame had vanished.


	30. She could weaer anything from her plain

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Pairing:<strong> Luna/Fleur  
><strong>Challenge(s):<strong> If You Dare (DARK, #077 – grass skirts), February Femslash Competition

* * *

><p>She could wear anything from her plain old school robes to a swishy little grass skirt and still stand out from the crowd like a blazing beacon.<p>

Many thought it hurt their eyes: the acorns that jingled without sound at her ears, the fresh smelling flowers woven into her straggly hair. But Fleur enjoyed the effect it caused: the way the foolish could be kept at bay while those true at heart came near – and she loved how there was no care of beauty or birth or the opinion of the world, nothing save the people she loved.

And Fleur revelled in that refreshing fragrance of freedom, dancing with the eccentric Luna Lovegood. The Luna who didn't care who she was or how the rest of the world looked at her; the Luna who had fast become a friend… and something more.


	31. When Katie was dragged into the air, lip

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Katie/Leanne  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: If You Dare (DARK, #122 - suffered), February Femslash Competition

* * *

><p>When Katie was dragged into the air, lips soundlessly part, it was Leanne who screamed for her, eyes wide in horror and heart straining in its confines. When Katie did begin to scream, Leanne was so overcome by the emotions that poured from her dear friend that she couldn't help but fold into a collapsed mountain of sobs. And when Katie finally collapsed, Leanne was pale and shaky and feeling like the Cruciatus had been cast on her person.<p>

Afterwards, when Katie lay comatose in St Mungo, Leanne felt like a balloon without air, a half of a whole. Katie had taken something away with her: not only innocence in an attack so close to home, but that part of their collective hearts they both shared. They became too far apart, or perhaps that was what a coma felt like: empty and eternally cold.

They said absence made the heart grow fonder, but it just made hers shrivel without Katie to puff it back up.


	32. Charlie's hands were never without a

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Molly Weasley, Charlie Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Connect the Weasleys Challenge 36 pack (Molly/Charlie, soft)

* * *

><p>Charlie's hands were never without a callous nowadays, and Molly had given up trying to restore them to their once baby-softness. Not that she minded; those callouses showed her son to be hard-working and strong… but she did confess herself to be disappointed she couldn't have that tenderness from his babyhood.<p>

Maybe it was just one of those things that died with age, more so when age also meant more frequent forages into the outdoor world and the dangers it presented. Honestly, Molly had almost had a heart attack when Charlie had announced his interest with working with dragons. Quidditch was one thing; dragons were another thing entirely.

But Charlie loved it, and Molly knew his hide was tough enough for the work. But those callouses became an even larger part of his hands, and Molly had to confess the baby she could kiss and scold and keep away from trouble had all grown up.


	33. The dust tickkled at Ron's nose as he

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Arthur Weasley, Ron Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Connect the Weasleys Challenge 36 pack (Arthur/Ron, dust)

* * *

><p>The dust tickled at Ron's nose as he followed his dad into the attic. The ghoul was still clamouring about, which was good, but the dust was putting a tampering feeling on his plan.<p>

Arthur caught the expression. 'Don't worry,' he said. 'We'll have that ghoul looking like you in no time.'

No time was, in fact, a few days, but that wasn't what Ron was concerned about. 'Do you think I should go?' he asked quietly, taking advantage of the absence of the rest of their family… and Hermione, busy helping Mrs Wesley with the laundry. 'I mean, honestly, what can I do?'

Arthur fiddled with his wand a little before answering. 'Who was it who defeated Minerva's giant chess set?' he asked. When Ron made to answer, or protest, Arthur held up a hand. 'Who was it that was trapped in the Chamber with Lockhart? Who helped his team win the final match against Gryffindor in their fifth year when half the team was suspended? And, yes, I know full well you can counter sell of those and more, but that's you. You have different ways of thinking and strategizing, different ways of acting on surety and doubt. That counterbalances Harry, and Hermione. But most importantly, they are your friends and you'd always regret not going with them if you stay.'

Ron contemplated that as his father started casting, then began adding his own strings of spells. 'Thanks, Dad.'

'You're welcome, son.'


	34. Lavender hadn't thought much of the moon

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Lavender/Luna  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: If You Dare (DARK, #003 - moonstruck), February Femslash Competition

* * *

><p>Lavender hadn't thought much of the moon in the past. That was before she changed. When she did, she developed a heart wrenching hatred – deep and stabbing and unlike anything she'd ever felt before.<p>

She'd learnt to abhor and fear the moon before she saw the beauty that lived under it. Or rather, Luna showed her. Showed Lavender why made her proud to carry the moon's name, even in the company of a werewolf. Showed how prettily the not quite full moon bathed their hair and the slender strands of grass, showed her the warm glow in the water, the quiet blushes of the trees… and even on the full moon nights which Lavender thought would always fuel her hired, Luna called friends – friends they'd all thought non-existence before.

And when Luna, concerned, asked why Lavender still cried, Lavender confessed herself regretful of not admiring the moon's wafting beauty before.


	35. Cho always tied her hair back before ent

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Cho/Sue Li  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: If You Dare (DARK, #015 - hotsprings), February Femslash Competition

* * *

><p>Cho always tied her hair back before entering a hot spring. Sue Li kept hers short, so there was never any need. But her hair wasn't anything special; Cho's on the other hand was, long and silky and so straight it was the envy of most other girls.<p>

But other girls didn't have the chance to slide the black hair tie down and watch those long locks unravel into the steaming water. They didn't get to run their fingers through those waterlogged yet still gorgeously smooth strands as she gave them a dazzling smile. And they didn't get to see her head arch into her searching, caressing fingers, or the little moan of pleasure they both pretended to have not heard.

And no-one would know Sue Li got that chance, because they'd wash it off and hide it in the steam of the hot springs, mindful of their family, their culture, and the world.


	36. Bellatrix was a spiteful little thing

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Bellatrix/Narcissa  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: If You Dare (DARK, #008. Never Bite the Hand the Feeds You), February Femslash Competition

* * *

><p>Bellatrix was a spiteful little thing when she didn't get her way, and Narcissa had long since learnt to say on her sister's good side. After all, it was Bellatrix who spent the most time with her, to whom she went for advice, who gave her lovely things to wear and showed her beautiful little spells that made blood run in such an enticing manner.<p>

And it was Bellatrix who gave her her reprieve, her release, when she withered, screaming for it alone. Bellatrix who kept her terrible secrets, who entertained her sinning desires.

So when Bellatrix asked for something in return, how could Narcissus not give it?


	37. She decided she might as well stop

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Gabrielle/Ginny  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: If You Dare (DARK, #016 – settling in for a long siege), February Femslash Competition

* * *

><p>She decided she might as well stop trying to fight the inevitable, because nothing seemed to change. Her feelings did not change, no matter how much she debated against them, no matter how much she told herself that the object of her affections was not only in another country, but had a boyfriend of her own.<p>

Even if she didn't stay committed forever, she loved a man, not a woman. But that wasn't indicator enough for Gabrielle's treacherous heart. Nor was the fate of that girl in the newspaper, the one who'd loved another girl and been stoned by her fellow classmates because of it.

There was simply no fighting it, so all she had was waiting and hope. Hoping the next time they met, things would be different. That Ginny will have showed something that can let Gabrielle into the light, instead of her fascination in the shadows.


	38. Lily was strict in the face of the

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Lily/Marlene  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: If You Dare (DARK, #040 - craving), February Femslash Competition

* * *

><p>Lily was strict in the face of the Marauders, but she wasn't impossible… usually. She'd reserved that for her pregnancy instead. Running the men ragged with errands until they demanded a short reprieve.<p>

Marlene thought she'd have an easier time, being a woman. She was wrong, but she couldn't feel she minded. Even three months pregnant, Lily glowed with the fire from her high school days, the fire that had let Marlene to seek her out, to befriend her, to follow her. And now, it seemed, to run around keeping her happy… and with so little time, how could she tire of it?

If she had been James, she would have clung jealously to her wife, enjoyed the friendly little kisses she blew in a rightfully sensual way. For Marlene, she had to keep her true heart cloaked up, let the kisses floss out the door before she can catch them and feel the tinging spread through her skin.

Yes, she was jealous of James, but Lily was in love and be it far from her to ruin it.


	39. Lily spent entirely too much time with

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Lily/Hermione  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: If You Dare (DARK, #051 - shakespeare), February Femslash Competition

* * *

><p>Lily spent entirely too much time with her daughter in law for her own good. But neither of the, could say they didn't enjoy it, bantering about the so-called issues of the world, advocating passionately for what they thought were the real issues, shooting Shakespeare at each other in times of reflection or friendly chatter, and sharing streaming cups of herbs tea on the porch swing.<p>

They pretended not to notice how thy sat a little closer each time, how their fingers almost touched one day, then were interlaced the next. They pretended not to notice Hermione's head rest gently on Lily's shoulder, or Lily's lips pressing a feathery kiss on the other's hair. They pretended not to notice the faces turning, creeping together – not until one of them would snap out of the daze and jump back, breaking the spell.

And they pretend not to notice how much longer it takes, each time, for them to pull away.


	40. The stars were changing their alignment,

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s): <strong>Centaurs  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Hook a Prompt (row 2, column 5 – centaur)

* * *

><p>The stars were changing their alignment, and the Centaurs watched, unblinking. Watched as the transformation of the world was written in the skies. Watched as their own futures were desired.<p>

They saw freedom in the stars: freedom that followed a long, hard struggle in war – telling them the war around them wasn't just a war between men, but between man and creatures like themselves as well. They saw blood and death and stained forests, telling of the death they would soon face. And they saw something bright in the stars: their dwindling herds growing in vitality and number, spreading over the world again as they once had.

They saw a future on earth, instead of just in the stars, and they turned to each other, then the ground of the present.

The stars had seen decision. Decision…and action.


	41. Cedric tried not to play favourites

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s): <strong>Cedric Diggory  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Scattegories Challenge (C – Cedric, Classroom)

* * *

><p>Cedric tried not to play favourites with his classes; he felt, that way, he'd get more out of all of them. If he had a favourite, he thought he'd spend more time than he should on it and not enough on the others.<p>

He certainly had a least favourite though: like everyone else, History of Magic. Except when second year had come, when Lockhart had turned DADA into a joke even worse than Quirrel's stuttering and garlic smells. At least he learnt _something _in History of Magic. Especially with the Heir of Slytherin and how many Muggleborns were in Hufflepuff… It just gave him a very uncomfortable feeling.

He'd entertained the notion of Lockhart being in league with Voldermort. After the rumours about Quirrel, it wouldn't have been too farfetched.


	42. It was empty and as bare as a bone

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Luna/Hermione  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: If You Dare (DARK, #010 – ghost town), February Femslash Competition

* * *

><p>It was empty and as bare as a bone, despite the faded colour and artefact that dusted it. For someone like her, it might have even been typical, but the room did Luna's vibrancy no justice at all. The gold threads that wound their names together made her heart ache even more, because the gold was tame and nothing like the girl's wild mane of hair.<p>

Hermione felt her eyes sting as she noticed other little things, how the pictures seemed so slow and lethargic to move, as though sensing magic for the first time in an age. If even the magical residue in the bedroom had bled out, it must have been a long time indeed, since things had been this way.

It… it just wasn't Luna anymore, her room. It was though her presence had died, and only the imprint of her ghost remained.


	43. Parvati was always meant to sparkle

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Parvati/Lavender  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: If You Dare (DARK, #049 – sparkle), February Femslash Competition

* * *

><p>Parvati was always meant to sparkle; Lavender knew that. And she knew she would have to lurk in the shadows to see the full extent of that shone.<p>

She didn't care, because it meant she had an eternal amount of time to see Parvati, to watch that slender body so gracefully move, to watch that sparkle while most others would only get a fleeting glance and be content with it.

Lavender could never be content with that, but maybe it was because there was something deeper planted with her. Something born from their school years together; the way they'd grown, their friendship… But that was changing. Lavender's eyes never strayed far, and if Parvati caught them she'd give a shivering smile, or twist a little to show off even more.

_You want to see me?_ she seemed to say. _Well, here you go._

And Lavender could thirstily drink it all with that teasing.


	44. Gabrielle giggles when she plants a

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Gabrielle/Fleur  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: If You Dare (DARK, #630 – innocent love), February Femslash Competition

* * *

><p>Gabrielle giggles when she plants a soft feathery kiss on her sister's lips, and it was Fleur who worries about what it means. But Gabrielle doesn't seem to see anything strange, anything too intimate, so Fleur lets her go on.<p>

She is careful in what she does back, careful as to not let her own impure feelings show – careful to not taint her little sister's white impression of love.

Because Gabrielle is too young to know that deep aching feeling; she knows sisterly love and nothing more.


	45. While others Tom's age craved

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s): <strong>Tom Riddle, Nagini  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Hook a Prompt (row 3, column 9 – Tom Riddle)

* * *

><p>While others Tom's age craved companionship, he craved power. The way he saw it, companions were the lesser gold and he wanted the thing that would change the world.<p>

He kept one companion though: a large snake he'd found in the orphanage garden. She was powerful; she'd already managed to kill the mangy cat that stole food from the kitchens – she'd swallowed it whole. It wasn't big enough to kill a person with a single strike yet though…but Tom was sure she'd grow in time.

She'd told him that, fully grown, her fangs could tear through a man's neck and her jaws could fit quite comfortably over his head. Interested, Tom had asked if she often ate human meat.

She didn't, but she could if it was given to her. And they struck an agreement of sorts, an agreement which would later become overlaid by Dark Magic. But, back then, Tom was just a bullying loner who could talk to snakes, and no real threat.


	46. Neville hadn't consciously stepped

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s): <strong>Neville Longbottom  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: The Gemstone Challenge, Garnet

* * *

><p>Neville hadn't consciously stepped forward and yelled: it had happened, because that was what his heart was screaming at him, even if the stifling air around him was telling him caution instead.<p>

He didn't regret doing it though, even if it was a foolish thing to do in retrospect. He registered that, once his body had been petrified under Voldermort's wrong, and fire brought down on his head. But he didn't regret; he could hear shouts behind him, shouts that had been stunned into silence before. Shouts that now surpassed the power of Silencing charms, who threatened to bring down Voldermort's followers.

Maybe it was the inner Gryffindor that had decided to step forth and give heart, and his mind hadn't tried to stop him because it was right.


	47. Rose inherited her mother's brain, peop

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s): <strong>Rose Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: The Gemstone Challenge, Rose Quartz

* * *

><p>Rose inherited her mother's brains, people said, but her father's looks. Rose disagreed. If she had her mother's brains, she would have fallen in love with a fuzzy warm and <em>loud<em> idiot like her Dad instead the silent suicidal Scorpius Weasley. And she would have waited five years to say it – or rather, for him to say it to her, instead of marching up ten minutes after she'd worked it out herself and kissing him full on the lips _in the boys' bathroom_.

In retrospect, that hadn't been the smartest thing to do. But it had been empty save for Scorpius, and he'd been trying to carve his wrists, not use the bathroom. And she'd flown into a temper the moment she'd noticed – or rather, he'd dropped his conjured silver knife to the floor.

And if she had her father's looks, a shocked Scorpius wouldn't have commented on how _brown_ her hair was, as opposed to how red. And she wouldn't have yelled at how stupid he was and sounded at that moment, and whether she needed to hex him a good one or conjure up some new brain cells for him.

She didn't think she _could_ conjure up new brain cells.


	48. She didn't realise how her power was

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s): <strong>Ginny Weasley, Tom Riddle  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: The Gemstone Challenge, Amethyst

* * *

><p>She didn't realise how her power was drained from her until it was too late.<p>

She still didn't know when it had started, when her writing had become more than innocent words scrawled on a page. Oh, how careful Tom had been, how deceptively kind and patient as he coaxed her to release her soul to him.

And she'd done it, because he'd understood her in a way no-one else had. Or she'd thought no-one else; she hadn't tried to talk to them, to understand them, and when she did she was already too weak to break his grip. Her tongue was the first thing to fail; she bit instead of saying something of use, since she wrote it all instead. Then her brain, her memory; she would wake up in a place she didn't remember arriving at, covered in dirt or grass or feathers whose origins she could guess but not recall.

Eventually, she lost the strength of her body and her will entirely, and it was the strings of her puppet form pulling her into the Chamber to her puppeteer.


	49. Hermione passed the wishing fountain on

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s): <strong>Hermione Granger  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Hook a Prompt (row 4, column 4 – Ministry of Magic)

* * *

><p>Hermione passed the wishing fountain on her way in before she paused and backtracked. It had changed a lot since Voldermort's defeat; she had barely recognised it. But the glitter of golden gallons at the bottom was a constant, and she considered a moment before tossing a few of her own to join the pile before she continued on.<p>

After all, it wouldn't do any harm to wish for success. Even if the ideals of people were changing, the view towards magical creatures was still far from exemplary. The brave deed of Dobby on Malfoy Manor; what the Hogwarts Elves and Kreacher had done in the final battle…even things like that hadn't stopped the abuse of House Elves by some Pure Blood family. Harry and Ron had a new level of appreciation for them, as did those Hogwarts students who had been directly saved by the brave little fighters, but on the whole the Wizarding society still needed to change.

And it wasn't just the House Elves. The centaurs that had turned against what they believed in to fight for them. Gwarp who had saved his half-human brother. That poor blinded dragon that had released from Gringots in their escape.

Changing the laws and ideals of the Ministry would be the only way to force that change. That was what she wanted; what she strived for. Why she had come: to gain a position, or a path to one, where she could start to make those changes.

And a wish wouldn't do any harm in helping her get there.


	50. Hermione loathed to admit it, but a part

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s): <strong>Hermione Granger  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Hook a Prompt (row 5, column 6 – Hermione Granger)

* * *

><p>Hermione loathed to admit it, but a part of her was jealous of the Half Blood Prince's book. Her pride simply got in the way of her milking reward from it.<p>

She covered it up by claiming suspicion – and after a while, she _did_ become suspicious. But that was after she found out that unapproved spells were jotted into the book's margins. Before that had just been…bitterness, and annoyance. How was anyone supposed to know that crushing would get more juice out of the beetles than cutting, as the book officially stated? If cutting wasn't enough, why did the official version write it?

It irked her, knowing that the material given to her was incomplete. Experimentation in potions was dangerous; straying from the recipe was dangerous. And yet the instructions itself were mediocre; hardly enough to produce a substandard potion. Why had such a book been assigned to them?

Yes, she admitted the person who had annotated Harry's potions book was clever. She also thought he was dangerous, experimenting like that – and not only on potions, but spells as well.

But something Xenophilius said to her struck later on: her close-mindnessness had stopped her appreciating the true artistry of potions. The reason Snape had never praised her had nothing to do with her House. The reason he praised Malfoy had nothing to do with his either. It was just an unfortunate side-effect they blamed on House rivalries.

She simply hadn't had, or exercised, the talent for thinking outside the box. Crushing something to get more juice as opposed to cutting it, was common sense – something she'd said that Wizards lack, but had apparently herself forgotten.


	51. The Hogwarts kitchen was one of the few

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s): <strong>House Elves  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Hook a Prompt (row 7, column 10 – Disorder)

* * *

><p>The Hogwarts kitchen was one of the few places that had gone untouched, and yet it was still in chaos. That was mostly due to the elves throwing down their chores and rushing to the aid of their student masters – lead by Kreacher, waving a tiny butterknife and proudly wearing the Potter-Black crest upon his towel, and behind him, Winky with tears pouring down her cheeks as she banished shards from an empty bottle of Butterbeer.<p>

Even the elves that had known Hogwarts all their life had been swept away in the moment, dropping the pots and pans they'd spent a lifetime pouring Elf-magic into and rushing into aid. And pots had overboiled, food on pans and burnt, and the sink had flood and soaked the floor in water as the battle raged.


	52. It had been such a tiny thing, the hunge

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s): <strong>House Elves  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Hook a Prompt (row 8, column 2 – Moaning Mrytle)

* * *

><p>It had been such a tiny thing, the hunger for revenge. To scare the girls that had laughed at her. Such a petty little thing that ended up having her trapped at Hogwarts for an eternity.<p>

She didn't even have good memories of Hogwarts. Why would she? All she'd gotten were laughs and scorns and average grades. And she was a Ravenclaw; average grades in Ravenclaw were as good as a P in any other House if you were lucky, or a D if you weren't.

In fact, in a few years she forgot what the rest of Hogwarts even _looked_ like. The girl's bathroom on the second floor was the one familiar place and she left it less and less as time passed. There was no need for her to go elsewhere; somehow, the image of her sobbing here comforted her – and scaring the girls that wandered in was the tiny thrill she could still milk from her situation.

It was sad, but she had dug her grave with her vindictive little choice, and now she had to live with it.


	53. The droplets tumbled all around them

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Luna/Lavender  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Slash/Femslash Boot camp, #008 – rain, February Femslash Competition

* * *

><p>The droplets tumbled all around them, nestling into her golden hair. Luna kept them there, laughing at how they tickled her scalp and rolled down her straggly locks. Lavender, nowhere near as carefree, stayed huddled and miserable underneath the umbrella's shade until Luna called her and pulled her into the rain dance as well.<p>

The ring slipped through Lavender's skin and soaked the wolf beneath; it seemed to roll off Luna like petals dropping excess water to their toots. Except Luna had no roots, Lavender thought as she watched the other girl. Luna was a free spirit, beautiful yet wide and unrestrained, even in the moonlight when everything else changed.


	54. Not even a healer could remove that scar

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Lavender/Hannah  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Slash/Femslash Boot camp, #009 - scar, February Femslash Competition

* * *

><p>Not even a healer could remove that scar, but Hannah spent the better part of ten years trying. 'Because you deserve better,' was her answer whenever Lavender asked. 'Because you deserve to be as beautiful on the outside as you are in.'<p>

Laughing bitterly, Lavender would point out the hideous inner wolf, and Hannah would have her own sad face as she continued work. 'It's painless now,' was the weak response she could give. Yes, it was painless, but it was also unnatural. The lack of pain… and the transformation as well. Transforming at all. She was a _human._

And every time Hannah failed, she would cry over her inability to show Lavender just that.


	55. Rose doesn't think Lily quite understand

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Rose/Lily  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Slash/Femslash Boot camp, #010 - gift, February Femslash Competition

* * *

><p>Rose doesn't think Lily quite understands. She's given her a flower for Valentines. A red flower.<p>

'Lily-pie,' Rose began, before the other interrupted with a pout. 'Lila, then.' Rose sighed; Lily didn't make things easier when she stood there with that adorably irresistible face. 'Red roses are…'

'For people you love,' Lily finished triumphantly. 'Molly told me.'

Rose thought their slightly older cousin had given a severely watered down version of the truth. The gears in Rose's head started turning in search for revenge. 'It's a special kind of love,' she tried to explain. 'Like how Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny love each other. Not like us.'

'What's the difference?' Lily asked, brow furling.

'Well, the difference is…' Rose broke off, looking flustered. She wasn't much older than Lily, so kissing was the gross ting one's parents did in secret and laughed about it once caught. 'Well, you kiss the other person on the lips…'

'Like this?' Lily asked, standing on her tiptoes and pecking her astonished cousin's lips.

Rose really didn't know what to say, though Lily doesn't look phased at all.


	56. Back again,' Dilys asked from her portr

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Pairing<strong>: Pomfrey/Dilys  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Slash/Femslash Boot camp, #011 – portrait, February Femslash Competition

* * *

><p>'Back again,' Dilys asked from her portrait, amused.<p>

'You'll never accumulate enough OWLs to get into anything if you keep coming to the Headmaster's office like this.'

Poppy has the grace to look embarrassed. 'I'm not in trouble, actually,' she confessed. 'It's just been so long since we last talked.'

Dilys sighed. 'So you snuck into your Headmaster's office. Dippit is not going to be pleased – though maybe it'll get a sense of security into his head.' She shrugged. 'Son't you have class now?'

'Free study session,' Poppy said cheerfully. 'Professor Merrythought's a little under the weather.'

'Alright,' Dilys said, sounding resigned even as her eyes twinkles. 'Who would you like to hear about today?' She grinned suddenly. 'How about the one where a woman had cast a switching spell on her husband because she wanted to be on top for once…'

Poppy went a little red (she was still at the age where sex and genitalia were embarrassing) , but listened attentively.


	57. Harry sometimes couldn't help but ask

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

* * *

><p><strong>Character(s)<strong>: Harry Potter, Petunia Dursley  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Decisions, Decisions Round 2: Harry&Petunia, hesitate, inappropriate, "If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton you may as well make it dance." -George Bernard Shaw

* * *

><p>Harry sometimes couldn't help but ask about his parents. It was the desire of any child, after all, to know theirs. And Petunia would always find herself hesitating a moment, the briefest of moments, before giving a clipped answer that put an end to the discussion.<p>

But it didn't stop the memories that flooded forth, of _why_ she refused to speak of her sister and his husband. And that changed her mood. Harry could see how turbulent it became, and his work thereafter would be even more meticulous than ever to keep her temper sweet. But he would ask again, and again, and keeping the words from her mouth became a more difficult thing to do by the day.

Eventually, the words just burst out of her, when that_ man_ knocked down the door and brought chaos to their lives. The passion with which she envied her sister, disguised as loathing for the dead – because they always said you shouldn't keep on hating the dead, and she hated her sister, but she couldn't help it. The hurt had run to deep.

She distanced herself from her nephew, kept those stories silent for only her to enjoy, because then she wouldn't have to watch him become like his mother, her sister: that thing she had envied but never become herself.


	58. Ginny's always looked to Charlie, maybe

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**Character(s)**: Charlie Weasley, Ginny Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Connect the Weasleys Challenge, 36 pack: Charlie/Ginny - burn

Ginny's always looked to Charlie, maybe more so than her other brothers. Maybe it was because Charlie was the best flyer, the fastest – she'd decided long she she wanted to be a Chaser, and Charlie could have been one if he'd tried. A Seeker wasn't that far away though, and being a Seeker meant you spent a lot of time chasing the Snitch.

They also seemed to share the same sense of cooking skills. Bill wasn't bad at cooking, though he was a little inventive (though not quite matching the twins) – a problem in Potions in early years, and Percy was meticulous in such things. Ron wasn't great either, but at least his cauldrons didn't explode by the dozen. Ginny was the only one who sprouted burns similar to Charlie's…even if her hands never quite reached his calloused state.

She supposed it was because of the main difference between them – that she wasn't overly fond of dragons.


	59. Lily hadn't been expecting the

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**Pairing**: Lily/James  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Hook a Prompt, Row 9, Column 1: Godric's Hollow

Lily hadn't been expecting the quaint little cottage when James had said he'd picked out the perfect house for them, but she loved it. It had a gorgeous garden, and nicely sized too. She could take some cuttings from her mother's rose bush for the front, and the Muggles would never know if she had Devil's Snare or some other Wizarding plant hiding behind it.

And it was a quiet, peaceful place. Not as quiet as a tombstone as most pureblood properties because of their foolish love for secrecy, but the sort of quietness that came from quiet, close knit communities.

And Lily was sure James had known that the famous historian Bathilia Bagshot lived in Godric's Hollow too. She wouldn't have minded a Potions mistress, but a history expert was the next best. If she couldn't pursue her interests in a professional setting, she could do it at home.


	60. The Department of Misuse and

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**Character**: Perkins  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Hook a Prompt, Row 10, Column 9: Department of Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office

The Department of Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office quickly became a lonely place once Arthur had been transferred out.

Perkins was proud of Arthur; a man as young and promising as he didn't deserve to be stuck in a corner of the Ministry forever, but Perkins had been happy to have him. He hadn't been there long himself, a side-job after he was taken off field duty for his bad back. The company had been pleasant, even though he could see that cramped little office was no place for a young man. But Arthur was a bright young man, an optimist; he brightened the place up.

Now that he'd finally moved on as he deserved, the office was dry and bland for the first time. Spacious. Empty.

Perkins decided the time for his formal retirement was close at hand.


	61. His face was dripping blood, but he

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**Pairing**: Seamus Finnegan  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Hook a Prompt, Row 11, Column 3: Seamus Finnegan

His face was dripping blood, but he couldn't mind it too much. There were too many scars to ever heal now, but he couldn't mind that either. It was a sign of his commitment, his action, his beliefs. Britain, might be crumbling, but he was a part of that fraction of Hogwarts who was trying to salvage their part.

They wouldn't let the Carrows run the show. He was older, experienced, and more protected than the younger years – those first and second years tossed into war without preparation. He was a pureblood though; the Carrows didn't mind spilling his blood as much as they did…say, Neville. But it was wrong and that just made him work harder, be sneakier, more resourceful. Because what they did to him, they did to the younger, more malleable, ten times worse.

But the older students were there to patch the wounds and give hope. Though they didn't patch themselves; in a way, it was a sign, a symbol, both to themselves and to others: that they were the heroes and had the battle scars to prove it.


	62. Molly had thought she'd lost her son

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**Character(s)**: Molly Weasley, Percy Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Connect the Weasleys, 36 pack: Molly/Percy – last dance; Hook a Prompt Challenge, Row 12, Column 8; The If You Dare Challenge, Level DARK, prompt #013 – time goes by

Molly had thought she'd lost her son that fateful night, when the sparks had flown and he'd stormed out in in unconcealed rage. . She'd hoped that he'd turn around, particularly when the truth was cast out for the world to see, but he didn't – not for a while after, until the final battle.

Perhaps it was the Prewett obstinacy she had brought into the Weasley family. But he did come back, in the end. And she had a bit more time with him.

And the last dance she had with him really was the one she'd dreamed of having with him, at his wedding.


	63. Dean was usually quiet and reserved, but

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**Pairing**: Dean/Seamus  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Hook a Prompt Challenge, Row 13, Column 4: Dean Thomas, Slash/Femslash Boot Camp, #012 – interrupt

Dean was usually quiet and reserved, but he soon found out that Seamus was the exact opposite. And they made for an interesting pair. When Seamus tried one of his wild experiments, Dean was there to interrupt fantasy with a voice of reason. When Dean was quietly sketching, Seamus was around to give the tender little lines some vibrant life.

And it was an interesting partnership. It wasn't the sort where interests clashed – unless it came to a clash between football and soccer of course. It was the sort where two unrelated interests were complimented by each other, the sort where both parties grew because of it. And Dean found himself growing more adventurous as well, over the years, just as Seamus learnt caution through him.

And it was a collaborative effort that brought Gryffindor's lion to life in that Quidditch match.


	64. Charlie and Bill weren't the most rowdy

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**Character(s)**: Bill Weasley, Charlie Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Connect the Weasleys, 36 pack: Bill/Charlie - space

Charlie and Bill weren't the most rowdy of boys, but when sharing a room as small as theirs was, there was bound to be some issue of space. Charlie liked his pictures of Quidditch teams and dragons. Bill didn't so much mind the Quidditch, but he drew the line at having a Hungarian Horntail glaring at him from the wall. Bill preferred pictures of objects – like Quissindia's cursed crown, or the scarab beetle said to preserve the bodies of the Pharaohs.

Charlie thought they were creepy. Bill thought they were cool. So, naturally, there was a fight for territory every now and then, usually resulting in a dragon and scarab beetle glaring at each other from their respective posters while their owners glowered. Naturally, Charlie and Bill made up quickly, but their interests were another thing entirely.

There simply didn't seem to be any way to reconcile the dragons with cursed objects. Even when one of them became a dragonkeeper and the other a curse breaker.


	65. Lavender had never heard the moon's

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**Pairing**: Luna/Lavender  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Slash/Femslash Boot Camp, #013 – sing

Lavender had never heard the moon's sweet voice sing; she had never cared to. Luna did more than listen; she sung along, sweet and loud.

It wasn't until things changed that Lavender turned to find something beautiful in that face: the face of the moon that now marked a night of loss and transformation. It wasn't until the moon was truly tied to her being that she sought a deeper meaning to it, that she listened for that song.

And that drew her to Luna, the one named after the moon and singing her song loud enough for even the once-dead to hear.


	66. By the time she got to her sixth son

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**Character(s)**: Molly Weasley, Ron Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Connect the Weasleys, Molly/Ron - breakable

By the time she got to her sixth son, Molly had learnt that her sons weren't as fragile as they appeared. She would still worry and they got themselves into scrapes and came back with bleeding shins, but it wasn't the overbearing worry she'd faced with her first sons.

She still had that fear though: the fear of what they'd do without her, if something ever happened. And that was especially true for Ron, perhaps the least confident and independent of her children. Of, she didn't fault him for that – she couldn't: she loved all of her children so much, despite all their faults, but he was young and still trying to find his footing in the world when the war came upon them.

Even Ginny, a year younger and a girl, seemed more prepared to be alone.

Ron wasn't supposed to be alone. If he got separated from Harry and Hermione… She knew Ron wasn't made of breakable glass, but she worried all the same.


	67. Ginny was born a curious child

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**Character(s)**: Ginny Weasley, Bill Weasley, Charlie Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Connect the Weasleys, Bill/Ginny - reach

Ginny was born a curious child. She was constantly reaching for something: feeling them, playing with them. Sometimes they were too far up, so she'd sit underneath with her arms outstretched and wailing until someone picked her up.

It normally fell to Bill or Charlie; Percy was too busy with his books, and Ron and the twins were barely older than toddlers themselves. Sometimes, when it was really high and their parents were busy elsewhere, it was Bill who'd do his best to help her reach, because Charlie was just too short.

Eventually, Ginny just learnt to plant herself at Bill's feet when she wanted to reach something, and Bill, like the ever-doting big brother, obliged her.


	68. Bill was usually a good sport, but the

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**Pairing**: Bill Weasley, George Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Connect the Weasleys, Bill/George - ignore

Bill was usually a good sport, but the twins had a habit of taking things too far. Like that one time when George charmed his socks to flash silver in the presence of gold.

In his defence, George hadn't known it would be insulting to the goblins, or that the spellwork was complicated enough to have a registered curse-breaker struggle for a few minutes to break. That meant he was getting better, but that also meant his brother had been all the more embarrassed in the end.

That hadn't been what George intended, and he was sorry the embarrassment had been less than innocent, and Bill knew that too. Still, there was that little period where Bill was awkward and George guilty and Bill not willing to listen to any apologies.


	69. When Ginny was learning how to walk

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**Pairing**: Fred Weasley, Ginny Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Connect the Weasleys, Fred/Ginny - steady

When Ginny was learning how to walk, she would latch on to anyone and anything. Usually that was her brothers, except for Ron who could barely walk himself. Fred didn't mind; it was fun leading an eager and obedient little sister through fun little mazes. It was the perfect excuse too, when setting up pranks. 'I'm helping Ginny walk,' he'd say if his parents or an older sibling would see them. And Ginny would giggle and fall over, and all suspicion would be forgotten.

Fred told Ginny all about his pranks as he held her steady and helped her toddle along. George didn't like that so much, but Fred could see their little sister growing up into a real trickster like them. And his mind would wander off, him thinking about how they'd have to make sure to keep their baby sit away from the really dangerous stiff, and how she'd unleash her famous Prewett temper until they caved.

Though it didn't look like she'd inherited that temper, toddling along merrily, more than half supported by Fred.


	70. Albus knew it was going to be a tough

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

* * *

><p><strong>Droplets that Disappear into the Rain<strong>  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**Pairing**: Albus/Scorpius  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Slash/Femslash Boot Camp, #014 – challenge

Albus knew it was going to be a tough relationship, but he also knew it would be worth it. Scorpius wasn't the sort of person his parents would have approved of, even if their families didn't have their issues.

And, to be honest, Albus didn't approve of him either…or what he got into, rather. And Scorpius knew that. Just like Scorpius didn't like the goody little two-shoes act that Albus wore. But Scorpius wasn't bad and Albus wasn't good and that was the main crux of the matter.

Working out the details would be far trickier, but both of them wanted to try. Because they had big teenage crushes on each other and they wanted to make it work.


	71. They'd started out as near-enemies

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Ron/Hermione  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Monthly Het-Tastic Drabbe-athlon Competition, #001 – friendship

**.**

They'd started out as near-enemies, but had quickly become friends. Somewhere along the way they'd fallen in love.

Neither of them could really say when. It was a natural progression, like how a stream slowly widened until it became a river. Who could say where one ended and the other began? They were the same people after all; they'd just decided, at some time, that they'd fallen in love.

Even their friends, the people who'd watch them develop into the now married couple they were, couldn't say exactly when the rose of love had bloomed. Some claimed it was the Scabbers incident in third year. Others claimed it was Viktor Krum in fourth. Others still claimed it was somewhere between the fifth and sixth years. And then there were those who thought it earlier than all of them, back before the incident with the troll.

But no-one, not even Harry who knew them best, could say when they'd fallen in love.


	72. Neville knew that, one day, he'd master

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Neville/Hermione  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Monthly Het-Tastic Drabbe-athlon Competition March 2014, #002 – master

**.**

Neville knew that, one day, he'd master that spell. He'd mastered every one he'd struggled with after all. He could master this one too.

It comforted him, somewhat, that Hermione struggled with this one as much as him. He rarely saw her struggle. She rarely did struggle. With anything. It only ever took her a few tries to get a spell, and then every wand movement, every word, every _cast_ was perfect. And then she'd turn to him, the imperfect one, until he was perfect as well.

Part of him wanted to master this first, so for once he could be the one to help her, to give her hope and some comfort: that she could do it too. Because he had no doubt she could, just like she had taken away his doubt oh so many times before.

Except he couldn't do it either, and all he could do was toil on until he could.


	73. Often, Ted forgot he was a wizard

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Ted/Andromeda  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Monthly Het-Tastic Drabbe-athlon Competition March 2014, #003 – mini

**.**

Often, Ted forgot he was a wizard. He'd try to drag his heavy trunk from his parents' car to the platform. He'd wash his socks by hand, and he'd spent hours sometimes trying to light a candle from the Common Room fire instead of using a simple Incendio spell.

Often, it fell to Andromeda to remind him, by shrinking his trunk, by casting spells to remove the soggy mess, by lighting the candles with a flick of her wand – then listening, half amused and half reprimanding, as he laughed at his own failings and the shape magic had become.

Mostly, it was at his trunk he laughed. 'It's like a toy,' he'd say. 'A mini-trunk, fitting nothing but a little cube of air. Oh, how it defies all logic.' And he'd elapse into chortles that wouldn't stop.

And Andromeda would find herself smiling as well, even if the entire situation stood against everything she'd been raised to believe.


	74. Lily knew how much Remus loved

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Remus/Lily  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Monthly Het-Tastic Drabbe-athlon Competition March 2014, #004 – chocolate

**.**

Lily knew how much Remus loved chocolate, so her little token gift during Christmas was always something related. Usually, it was a chocolate frog, but sometimes Hogsmeade would be close to the Christmas weekend and she'd get Honeydukes bar instead. Either way, Remus always showed his appreciation with gifts Lily deemed too expensive to be token – particularly when the poor boy looked too sick and ragged to be spending so much on his friends, much less her.

But when she called him out on hit, he confessed several things at once. She was a friend to him: precious just like the boys who'd taken him in. The books were inexpensive: Muggle (he'd guessed as much) and from a second hand book store. They had older books, he confessed. Not always in the greatest condition, but a few spells made them as good as new. And…he knew she'd like those books, because he always saw her reading in the library, always payed attention to what books, school-related or not, she read. Sometimes he caught her reading books she'd brought from home, books that had no place in the magical world.

But he payed attention to that, and brought her more. Brought her things he knew she would enjoy, just like her little token gifts. And she'd smiled tenderly, oddly touched, and promised herself she'd get more than just a chocolate frog next time. Because Remus loved chocolate, yes, but she knew he loved reading too. Perhaps the bookstore near her home had books he hadn't yet touched.


	75. Ginny didn't know which was crueller

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Harry/Ginny  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Monthly Het-Tastic Drabbe-athlon Competition March 2014, #005 – cruel

**.**

Ginny didn't know which was crueller: fate, or love. They'd both given her a hard blow.

Harry claimed he was cursed for love: he thought it had been struck out of fate. And maybe it had, because how could the man hunted by the darkest lord in existence hope to stop for love – but she also thought that love was a thing that came without the need to stop and grasp it.

Like hers had: she hadn't known anything about him when she'd developed her crush, and she'd known only a little more when it had softened into tender love. And yet that was a cruelty as well, for many things had come between that realisation and a fulfilment thereof. And when they'd finally come together, fate had stepped in and torn them apart once more. Fate: calling to Harry, dragging him away from a safety and peace that existed no more.

She didn't know if they'd see each other again, now that he'd gone towards that final quest, that final battle. That didn't stop the love she had for him: a love she knew was now real, no matter how superficial it had been before. And that didn't stop the pain; just loving a person wasn't enough when they weren't there.


	76. Ron wasn't sure when he'd started

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Ron/Hermione  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Monthly Het-Tastic Drabbe-athlon Competition, #001 – friendship; If You Dare Challenge, level DARK, prompt: 59 – big teeth; the Alpha and Omega Prompts Challenge, prompt: mouth

**.**

Ron wasn't sure when he'd started looking at Hermione. _Really_ looking. Like, noticing how her teeth had evened out, how her back was always arched forward as though reaching for the world, how her eyes glittered with unmasked intelligence and fire and how the thin lines of her mouth were firm against the weight of the world.

He hadn't noticed those things before, but now he found himself drawing to them. Watching them. Ever since that night, where her hair had been silk smooth and yet unnatural, Veela-like, and her eyes had been shimmering with tears.

It wasn't the first time he had made her cry; it wasn't the first time she was wrong either, and he was sure she was wrong. Krum was an enemy; falling for him would be like falling for Malfoy. Even Harry would be better…

And he'd catch himself there, because _Harry_ was no enemy at all, and that meant it was he, Ron, who wanted to be Hermione's love.

And he'd wasted three and a half years in realising that, and another half in angsting about the time he had already lost. But that was a regular part of growing up and falling in love…according to his brothers anyway.

Still, it would have been nice to notice how pretty Hermione was when he'd actually had a chance with her.


	77. The world was always too quick to change

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character**: Dobby  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Hook a Prompt, R14-C6: transformation; The Snakes and Ladders Challenge, Dobby; The Gemstone Competition, Emerald

**.**

The world was always too quick to change. The images of yesterday faded into the hazy part as the present was completely rewritten.

For Dobby, a house elf set free to the world, this was especially true. He journeyed about in search for a new family, a new job. He went to all sorts of different places: Britain, and overseas, saw different all sorts of different families, different homes. And they were all so different: not like the Great Harry Potter, but not like his old Masters either. And he was glad; the scars from that chapter of his life were slow to fade, but he didn't miss them. But those new families weren't like the Great Albus Dumbledore either, to whom Dobby went after returning to Britain.

And when he arrived at Hogwarts, it was to find it had changed in his absence. There was a chill in the walls now. A weariness. Not like cold fear that had followed the Chamber's opening. And Dobby saw he had changed as well.

And he'd seen how big, and how small, the world was.


	78. Hermione felt the cold from the time tur

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Hermione Granger  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Hook a Prompt, R15-C7: time turner; The Gemstone Competition, Sapphire; The If You Dare Challenge, #448 – betrayal

**.**

Hermione felt the cold from the time turner glass in her hand, watching the sand run in an eternal loop. Professor McGonagall had explained the process to her; unless she wanted to go back in time, the sand would run on forever. One flip would take her back an hour, again a second hour...and the time turner would set itself to the time past and then continue its course.

There was a chain attached, spelled so that it couldn't get stuck in her hair or clothes and flip the time turner by accident. She hadn't put it on yet though; part of her wanted it in her hand, where she had utter control. She wanted to continue exploring it, continue admiring it.

But her sense of responsibility was stronger than her curiosity, and she stowed the time turner under her robes and vowed not to abuse her privilege.

Still, she had that temptation, every now and then, to take her time turner out and explore it further. And, perhaps, use it for something other than her studies.


	79. Their friendship was made through

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: the Marauders  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: The Gemstone Competition, Aquamarine

**.**

Their friendship was made through brittle sticks wrapped together from the sticky strap that seeped out of its wounds. That sticky thing flowed faster and harder which each break, tying them closer together, making them stronger…and yet, they were also inevitably running out of space to break.

Could that sticky sap hold fine powder together? Perhaps not, no matter how admirably it held their bits and pieces. There was only so many times they could stand to break after all, before something was lost.

And that happened even faster when the breaks were concentrated to one section. When one drifted away from the other three, when he was reduced to powder and took another piece, almost whole, with him. And he took a great deal of the sticky sap with him, because it took thirteen years thereafter to stick the remaining two together.


	80. Ron was the first to lose his head

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Hook a Prompt, devil's snare ; The Gemstone Competition, Ruby, If You Dare Challenge, #495 – effective

**.**

Ron was the first to lose his head…unless his mother beat him to the punch. They'd all inherited tempers from her after all, along with flaming red hair from the pair of them. But I amazed him how Hermione, always so calm and collected, lost her head in the crisis known as Devil's Snare.

While it was flattening to know how much she cared, there were better times and places and ways to show it. Luckily, he'd inherited his mother's way of dealing with crisis as well – so long as tempers weren't in the way. Crude, but to the point and effective – pointing flat out that, if nothing else, they had magic which had almost no limits.

Granted, Hermione, having known about magic for less than a year, could be forgiven for forgetting that little fact.


	81. She is a fiery little ball

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Ginny Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Tien Lien Competition, Round 1 Spades (3 – Ginny Weasley)

**.**

She is a fiery little ball, indistinguishable from her brothers in how she rolls and tumbles like a boy. And her brothers are thrilled: after six of them, having a prissy little sister would be a nightmare to them – but she wasn't; she was shy, sometimes, but mostly her tongue was sharp, and her punches and kicks sharper. She was their little brother, the one they needed to forget.

Usually, they forgot she was, deep inside, a girl. Unless she fell and bruised more easily than the rest of them. Unless their mother didn't cut her hair when she cut theirs. Unless she got scared when playing too deep in the woods when it got dark.


	82. He's a curious little cub

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

Somehow I lost this one, but I think I've more or less managed to replicate it.

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Remus Lupin  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Tien Lien Competition, Round 1 Spades (4 – Remus Lupin)

**.**

He's a curious little cub the first few transmutations, when he's new and naive and his mind doesn't quite register the pain he suffers through those other twenty-nine days. But that pain slips through eventually – nothing stops it – and then those days where he'd sniff at the trees and soil are replaced by scratching and tearing at his own body, trying to pull out that _thing_ that's ripping him apart inside.

But it's not going to budge; it's there, and it's going to stay. And he's not a curious little cub anymore: he's a human monster every day of the year – there's no solace.

Sometimes he wishes that ignorance, that childish naivety, could have given him freedom one day out of thirty.


	83. Helga is calm in image

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Helga Hufflepuff, Godric Gryffindor, Salaazar Slytherin  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Tien Lien Competition, Round 1 Spades (Ace – Helga Hufflepuff)

**.**

Helga is calm in image, but Godric claims she makes a better child of the lions than him. She is the fiercest when it comes to defending a student, or a friend. She is the one who is determined to make every child in Hogwarts feel equal, feel at home. Even Godric, the man with a heart of gold, has his favourites among them.

But not Helga; she loves them all, and any slight against them will have her showing her secret temper. Like when Salaazar expresses his hatred of the Muggleborns, his pureblood ideas, it was her who was the first to stand against him, to drive her whip of anger behind him.

People don't realise that about Helga, about her house. But that fierce lioness spirit still lives there, occasionally rearing its head.


	84. Sirius is surprised to find some Black

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Sirius Black, James Potter, Dorea Black/Potter  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Tien Lien Competition, Round 1 Spades (2 – Dorea Black/Potter)

**.**

Sirius is surprised to find some Black blood in James. He's not surprised to find that Dorea Black is not on the family tree though; the Potters are a light house, a shame to the dirty Black family; it's no wonder she was considered a disgrace and removed.

James doesn't really see the big deal, but Sirius is curious. Here's another family member who's not mental, he thinks, someone like Andy and his favourite uncle. And that was before he learnt a thing about Dorea Black.

Of course, she wasn't Dorea Black anymore, but Dorea Potter. And none of the Potters seemed to think anything of her being a Black – or of him. That was what he loved about that family.


	85. It is a cruel twist of face that gives

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Lyall Lupin, Remus Lupin  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Tien Lien Competition, Round 1 Spades (King – Lyall Lupin)

**.**

It is a cruel twist of face that gives Lyall Lupin a werewolf son. Or maybe it is a retribution from some God, frowning at the work he did.

He'd never thought anything of it; too many magical creatures in the world were dangerous, and needed to be controlled. That was how he viewed them: dangerous beasts that could hurt innocent people, hurt his family – and they did, didn't they? Bit his son and turned him into one of _them_.

That put him into a bit of a predicament: his son was officially another one of those monsters, but he was _his son_. That adorable little boy he'd brought up with his beautiful wife. His flesh and blood.

Maybe that was what eventually changed his view on werewolves, but that was still a pain that none of them should have had to bear. And that still didn't change the fact that werewolves _were_ dangerous. And it killed Lyall inside every time he had to take those drastic measures to keep them all safe.


	86. Walburga was disappointed in both

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Walburga Black, Sirius Black, Regulus Black  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Tien Lien Competition, Round 1 Spades (Queen – Walburga Black)

**.**

Walburga was disappointed in both her sons. Sirius was impossible for a heir: he is handsome, but headstrong and filled with fancies: a child that seemed dead set on sullying the precious Black name. And Regulus was premature: he was soft, scared easily. Not made of the stuff needed in a heir…not that she thought he needed to be.

In the end, they both surprised him. Sirius was a fool, but she'd been sure he'd come round. He was the heir of course; he couldn't abandon the name – but he did. He ran away from home. And Regulus sucked it up and took the empty seat, and he did an admirable job. He made them proud.

She'd been disappointed with both of them, but now she hated one and loved the other one.


	87. There are a lot of people in her year

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Susan Bones, Amelia Bones  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Tien Lien Competition, Round 1 Spades (5 – Susan Bones)

**.**

There are a lot of people in her year that grew up without parents. She doesn't feel like them though, because she has Aunt Amelia who is so much like a mother to her, sometimes she slips up and calls her "Mum" instead. Not like Harry, who seems thrilled to be away from her family. Not like Neville, who is always afraid of disappointing his grandmother.

Aunt Amelia is just like the mother she imagines, the mother everyone tells her about. She is strong and firm, yet kind and gentle too. Susan wants to please her, but she's never afraid of being a burden or a disappointment, because Aunt Amelia just makes her feel like a part of the family, _her_ family. But she's never thinking it's better at Hogwarts without her either; Hogwarts is great, it's a second home, but it's not her first.

Maybe it's because of all that, but she doesn't have the kinship with the other orphans of their year that they have with each other. Because she doesn't think of herself as an orphan at all: she has Aunt Amelia.


	88. Lorcan has friends who are twins

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Lorcan Scamandor, Lysander Scamandor  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Tien Lien Competition, Round 1 Spades (6 – Lorcan Scamandor)

**.**

Lorcan has friends who are twins: the half-Indian half-French pair, the Lupins…though they were barely a year old and half-Weasley (who were famous for fiery twins), but the relationship he shared with his own twin seemed something very different.

They were polar opposites in everything: appearance and personality. The other twins he knew were carbon copies of each other: alike in shape and form. But not Lorcan and Lysander; Lorcan was the sort who loved to explore, while Lysander would sit under the shade of a tree and draw, or read. But that seemed fine to Lorcan: it was being the same that struck him as odd.

But that was other twins, and this was Lorcan and Lysander. And Lysander didn't like those half-Indian half-French twins anyway. Though even he couldn't resist adorable little babies.


	89. Alice is excited to hear Lily is pregnan

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Alice Longbottom  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Tien Lien Competition, Round 1 Spades (7 – Alice Longbottom)

**.**

Alice is excited to hear Lily is pregnant as well. Their families are so close, she's sure the kids will wind up brothers, even twins. And they're born quite close as well – just missing the twin mark, but they made a good attempt all the same. And they were close too, lying side by side in their separate cribs as the parents talk.

She's horrified to learn, later, about the prophecy made about those boys. That Voldermort will target one – and they're both like sons to her, sons to Frank, and Lily, and James. None of them can bear the thought.

It is probably the first time she is saddened by the fact that their sons were born at that time, and so close together.


	90. Viktor knows the only asset

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Viktor Krum  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Tien Lien Competition, Round 1 Spades (8 – Viktor Krum)

**.**

Viktor knows the only asset he has is his Quidditch skills, but he wants friends who'll see him for something else. It's a tough job; even at school everyone sees him as the Quidditch star, the Bulgarian seeker. It's only when he gets to Hogwarts that things change.

At the beginning, everyone thinks it's that fame that gets him his position as school Champion. But fame doesn't mean a thing once you're on the field, he realises. And his competitors are equals now: there's nothing between them save the points that'll decide the winner from the rest.

And then he sees _her_ in the library, sees the way she looks at the girls who flock after him, and knows there's another person who'll look beyond the fame and see what lies within. Even if it's not much, by his standards.


	91. Muriel Weasley is known to be fussy

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Muriel Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Tien Lien Competition, Round 1 Spades (9 – Muriel Weasley)

**.**

Muriel Weasley is known to be fussy, but that's just who she is. They all have their traits after all: the things that define them. Her trait was to nitprick at every little thing. There wasn't a such thing called perfection, but she wanted as close to it as possible.

What she really wanted though was a daughter of her own. But she couldn't have that; she didn't even have sons, the next best thing. She had no children, something near unheard of in the Weasleys who almost always had half a dozen kids per couple. So she made an extra effort to poke at all their faults, so she would watch them fix them and go away, as near perfect as they could be.

And on the wedding day most of all, when she wished it was her son or daughter walking down the aisle.


	92. Dirk Cresswell was a good man

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Dirk Cresswell  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Tien Lien Competition, Round 1 Spades (10 – Dirk Cresswell)

**.**

Dirk Cresswell was a good man, but he met an unfortunate end. He'd done well though, lasting as long as he did once his Muggle heritage had been uncovered.

He wasn't ashamed of it, but he hadn't blared it out either. So he hadn't denied it, even if it was such a dangerous time to be shouting out that heritage. But what could he do? It was the truth, and he couldn't exactly swear off his family, even if he wanted to. All he could do was flee…and he did flee.

But fleeing wasn't something he did well; he was an Auror. He _fought_. And so he did that, coming out of the shadows and cutting down as many Death Eaters as he could. He did that, and he was a fool for doing it too, because he'd as good as signed his own death warrant and the death warrant of his companions, others who had fled with him. But he couldn't help it any longer – he'd held out that long only because they had some youngsters with them: one a kid who shouldn't have even been out from school.

But he could only hold out for so long. And there wasn't enough time to remember him as a hero.


	93. Olympe Maxime was an unusual woman

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Olympe Maxime, Rubeus Hagrid  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Tien Lien Competition, Round 1 Spades (Jack – Olympe Maxime)

**.**

Olympe Maxime was an unusual woman. There was half-giant blood in her she didn't care to admit, even to someone like herself. Even when she'd travelled so long with Hagrid she hadn't admit it; it wasn't until they were engaged to be married that she said it.

But her large size wasn't the only thing about her: she was a graceful dancer despite her size, a stern yet kind Headmistress despite her appearance – because people had thought she'd amount to nothing, looking big and dumb as she had. But she wasn't dumb; she was intelligent, and determined. She made something of herself. She was proud.

But, unlike Hagrid who was proud of his half-giant heritage too – despite a mother that had abandoned him – she wasn't proud of that blood. She was only proud of her achievements.


	94. The school became remarkably quiet

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Hogwarts  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Hook a Prompt, R16-C3 – summer

**.**

The school became remarkably quiet over summer. There were a few of the staff who stayed there constantly, like Filch and Hagrid, but apart from them the ghosts and elves were the castle's only inhabitants.

Some of them enjoyed the peace and quiet: others found themselves missing the children and the bustle they brought. The elves had less work to do, which made them sad. Peeves had less students to fright. Nick and the Fat Frair had less people to talk to. The Grey Lady was amongst the minority pleased: she preferred her privacy. Mrytle was pleased as well: less people bothered her in her toilet.

None of them disagreed that summer brought a change to Hogwarts. And none of them disagreed that, happily or not, the Hogwarts it brought was a lovely one.


	95. He was starting to understand why

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Ron Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Hook a Prompt, R17-C3 – devil's snare

**.**

He was starting to understand why they called it _Devil's_ snare. At the beginning, it had been a right terror, trying to throttle them after cushioning their landing – but it had been the defence, and they the intruders despite their good intent. Though it was strangely poetic that sunlight of all things drove it away.

But when it strangles people to death in a hospital room, it really does sound more like a devil than a guardian. And hospitals sound more like tombs, with the light trapped outside the curtains, outside of sight, where they can't get through and save a poor guy who's lost his marbles already from losing his life.

But if the devils were against Voldermort and the Death Eaters, he'd take them.


	96. Harry was alone once upon a time

**A/N:** Written for the Hook a Prompt Challenge, R19-C1 – war.

**A Larger Poetry Collection  
>165. Foolish Sword<strong>

it was a fool's thing he did, and, and brave, but bravery was not what drove him  
>to that sword, but the feeling of injustice in his heart that screamed<br>in anger and frustration and loneliness and fear – but bubbling anger too

But it wasn't anger that drove him to shout out his heart but that feeling  
>of knowing how utterly <em>wrong<em> he was, how he couldn't stand for it  
>and just <em>had<em> to shout out against

And they needed to shout out, _he_ needed to shout out; they needed to _hear_  
>and so he shouted it out, that icy truth<br>(even if it had no chance of dousing the flame that surrounded him)


	97. He saw her from his portrait

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Harry Potter  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Bingo Card Drabble Competition, medium 42. Lily Luna Potter / Monthly Drabble-a-Thon Revamped, #14. Severus Snape, The If You Dare Challenge #914 – wandering girls / The Character Diversity Boot Camp, #041 – baseless / The Poetry Quotes and Numbers Challenge, 3-10 - "Heart, we must forget him. You and I tonight. You must forget the warmth he gave, I will forget the light."- Emily Dickinson

**.**

He saw her from his portrait, and it was like Lily, _his_ Lily, had come to life again.

He thought it was cruel, how she'd come after he was dead and gone and only an echo remained, trapped within the frame. He thought it was cruel how her curious eyes (and they weren't green; everything was perfect except those eyes were brown, not green) swept past his image without recognition. He thought it was cruel how Minerva addressed the young girl as "Miss Potter", how she pretended not to notice him staring at the Lily lookalike, pale and shocked.

'That's not her,' Minerva said to him afterwards. 'That's Potter's…_Harry's_…daughter.'

Harry Potter's daughter, he thought. Of course, the genes for his mother's red hair would lie in him, of course he could pass them on. He visibly deflated; he'd been a fool, he knew, but impossibility lost its sense in a frame. He might have been looking at another portrait, hidden somewhere in the castle.

But they were all wishes, all excuses. He knew. She was gone, and there was no portrait in the castle or ghost that remained.

'Her name is Lily,' Minerva continued, looking at him. 'Lily Luna Potter.'

Of course he would name his daughter like that. He scoffed.

'And he has two sons as well. I try to avoid bringing them up when you're awake.'

Of course. James Potter juniors no doubt.

'The elder one is James – ' He'd seen that one coming. 'James Sirius Potter. And the younger is…' Her lips curved up; whatever she was about to say, she was expecting an amusing response. 'Albus…Severus –'

Snape slunk into the shadows of his frame to maintain whatever dignity he still possessed.


	98. The giant squid was a legend

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Harry Potter  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Hook a Prompt Challenge R23-C1 – giant squid / Character Diversity Boot Camp (Dennis), #009 – wonderful / Poetry Quotes and Numbers Challenge, 1. "I want to become acutely aware of all I've taken for granted."- Sylvia Plath / 30 Harry Potter Prompts Challenge, #16 – black lake / The If You Dare Challenge, #532 – dreaded fall

**.**

The giant squid was a legend that every child who came to Hogwarts dreamed of seeing. And when Dennis fell off the little boat, he thought he was the luckiest guy alive. His brother had told him all about the squid, and he wanted to see it.

That was before the world vanished above his head and he understood why they called it – so pretty and sparkly even in the storm up above – was called the Black Lake.

He floundered, looking for the surface, for a moment panicking, wondering if he'd drown before he even made it to the school. He realised how precious the air had been, how far away the idea of the giant squid.

Then something curled around his waist and tossed him into the boat, and he coughed and spluttered and watched a tentacle slip back into the lake.


	99. The talk of acceptance was a foreign

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Harry Potter  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Hook a Prompt Challenge R24-C1 – marriage / Character Diversity Boot Camp (Madame Maxime), #018 – France / Poetry Quotes and Numbers Challenge, 7. "Nobody wants to hear you cry about the grief inside your bones."- Andrea Gibson / The If You Dare Challenge, #399 – marriage / Character Diversity Boot Camp, #050 – Gobbledygook / Bingo Card Drabble Competition, medium 50. Madame Maxime

**.**

The talk of acceptance was a foreign thing for her; she'd made her place in the world, by her own hands, moving whatever obstacle rolled onto her path. No-one moved aside for her. No-one helped her. No-one cared about her. Because she was different; she was an outcast.

And now that she had a position of power, it didn't matter; they looked to her only from afar, the tall headmistress they knew almost nothing about. And that was the way it stayed: she maintained her air of mystery, her safeguard. No-one wanted to hear her grief, so she didn't speak it. No-one cared, so she didn't say it.

But when she left France, she found someone just like her, someone who _could_ understand, who _believed_ in understanding – not just from ones like them but from those other people as well, the people who'd laughed at her when she was young, who'd ridiculed her.

They'd said she'd never find a person who would love her, who she could make her family with. It had taken her a while to accept it, but they'd been wrong.


	100. She didn't know why the Hat

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Parvati Patil  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Bingo Card Drabble Competition, 66 – Parvati Patil, Hook a Prompt Challenge, R25-C1 - past

**.**

She didn't know why the Hat had put her into Gryffindor. Sure, she wasn't the bookworm her sister was. She was the social butterfly of the pair – but social aptitude didn't land one in Gryffindor. Bravery did.

And she wasn't brave. She couldn't tell a single time she'd been brave before Hogwarts. She was just a typical girl who liked to make herself look pretty and share gossip and look at the stars and keep her niche of friends close. She was so bad at Defence Against the Dark Arts that she was sure they'd re-evaluate her House status – but that doesn't happen, and she realises that most of the people in Gryffindor are the same.

Some, like Granger, are thrilled to be in the same house as their precious Headmaster and the famous Harry Potter. Some like Weasley and Longbottom have a long lineage from that house. But most of them are like her: like Thomas, and Brown…and Longbottom fell into that category too. Somehow, they all became friends like that. United because they didn't know what bravery the Hat had seen, to place them in Gryffindor.

The Hat knew though, even if it didn't tell.


	101. There was always something different

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Harry Potter  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Battleship Challenge, I9 (miss) – hospital wing

**.**

There was always something different about the hospital wing, whenever he woke up in it. If it was a Muggle infirmary, he was sure he could construct a perfect image in his mind of the place in less than half as many visits. But the one in Hogwarts seemed to _change_ somehow.

Harry couldn't explain it. He just knew there was something subtly different about it each time. Maybe a tile in the ceiling shifted, or the balance of magic he couldn't ever hope to read. He didn't know. He just knew there was something…different.

It was interesting at least; it would drive him crazy if it were always the same.


	102. They procastinated too much

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Harry/Ron  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Slash/Femslash Boot Camp, #015 – homework / The If You Dare Challenge, #019 – there is always a price

**.**

They procrastinated too much, relied too much on Hermione and luck for their homework. They learnt the cost of that when she wasn't around to help them anymore, and that struggled together.

It was their own fault anyway…or rather, it was Ron's fault and Harry had been dragged along for the ride. Maybe it was a perfectly innocent understanding, but the sudden lack of her presence showed just what they'd taken for granted, what they themselves had lacked. But when they struggled, it wasn't closer to her in understanding they became, but to each other. Because they were the ones with their heads bowed over a shared piece of paper, the two fish that floundered in the sea together while their third become slowly more foreign to them.

Even when they became friends once again.


	103. The imperius curse didn't leave

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Katie/Leanne  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Slash/Femslash Boot Camp, #016 – shock / The If You Dare Challenge, #104 – I command you too…

**.**

The imperius curse didn't leave any obvious mark, but it took away free will and independence and Leanne had been sure, so sure, that such a change in Katie would be obvious to her.

But it hadn't been. She's noted the strange behaviour and distracted herself with the packet in her hands. That's why it had been so shocking to learn the truth, why something so obvious had caught her off guard – and her cheeks burnt in shame whenever she recounted the scene, whenever she remembered it.

She of all people should have known Katie better, especially in such a dangerous time.


	104. They had an unofficial date day set

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Tom the bartender/Hagrid  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Slash/Femslash Boot Camp, #017 – Diagon Alley / The If You Dare Challenge, #115 – fly fishing

**.**

They had an unofficial date day set, the day insect repellent in Knockturn Alley was cheap and the students had started flooding the streets of Wizarding London. The day Hagrid always got off, the day the day the bar was always full so no one would think it strange to have another face, full of beards and smiles, in their midst.

Those were days they could share something special without anyone noticing, when no one would notice Tom spending a little too much time with one particular customer, when no one noticed the bartender bite into a rock hard cake as though it were made of honey, or the half giant customer leave with a flower in his buttonhole.

The more personal interactions she shared when no-one else was around.


	105. Ron wished the man would gain his

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Ron/Lockheart  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Slash/Femslash Boot Camp, #018 – obliviate / The If You Dare Challenge, #122 - suffered

**.**

Ron wished the man would gain his memories quickly after that backfired obliviate, if only so he would stop acting like a lovesick puppy.

Any thought of memory loss being an improvement had been quickly proven false. At least in his case. For Harry it probably was an improvement; the man wasn't clinging to his fame anymore. But, for Ron, those few days in the hospital wing had been pure torture. Lockheart simply wouldn't leave him alone.

There wasn't even anything special about him.

Though he tolerated it, somehow. He just couldn't bring himself to blow up at a guy who remembered nothing, no matter how annoying he was or what he'd tried to do.


	106. She was the example: the one with good h

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character**: Pansy Parkinson  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Bingo Card Drabble Competition, medium #65

**.**

She was the example: the one with good heritage and looks and engaged from birth to the boy whose parents were two of the most outstanding people in modern society. The one who'd been given a script the day she was old enough to follow it, and taught to follow it every day thereafter. The one who others from their circle – the darker side of society that hit in the light – looked towards, tried to follow.

She was also the one who couldn't find even a bit of individuality about her, because everything was set in stone. She couldn't fall in love because she already had Draco Malfoy, and Draco Malfoy was so perfect she couldn't by any right want anything more. She couldn't cause trouble of any kind because she was the heir of the Parkinsons and an example to others in her niche. She couldn't look ugly because she was blessed with good looks. She couldn't act the idiot because she had brains.

And she couldn't be anything _but_ Slytherin because that was what she was: a Slytherin. Which meant she didn't put bravery and loyalty and all that stuff above else. She could be cold. Calculating. Self-preserving.

She couldn't be like the rest of Hogwarts who stood up and shielded Harry Potter. But if she had been, if she'd turned and started writing her own story, she wouldn't have found a dead end in her script after the war.


	107. He was a squib, but he was also a member

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character**: Argus Filch  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Bingo Card Drabble Competition, medium #20 / Hogwarts Fair 2014 challenge, entry fee

**.**

He was a squib, but he was also a member of Hogwarts and Hogwarts was his home. He'd be damned if he didn't do a thing to protect it.

And he didn't need a wand to protect it. If everyone with a wand fought there'd be no-one else to do anything else. No-one to run around and fetch supplies – because it would be madness trying to summon things in that chaos. They'd lose more than they gained, and from years of tracking down children no matter where they hid, Filch was very good at passing through the corridors of Hogwarts unseen.

He also had quite an interesting collection of things to use as weapons, thanks to years of confiscating them from students. Quite a few Weasley products – and he confessed they _were_ terribly handy – down to dark stuff he'd taken off the Death Eater children that very year. And he knew how all of them worked. That was his job, his business: to know them, and lock them up in his draw so no-body else could get their hands on them.

But desperate times called for desperate measures, so they were his means of thinning the horde he ran through. Little things: nothing that could kill and hardly anything that could wound, but all of it enough to give someone on their side a little edge in a duel. And, in between, he fetched thing from the infirmary and the potion's stores…to treat all those other brave souls who'd been injured in the battle that would decide the fate of the war.


	108. Molly had to confess that, sometimes,

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character**: Molly Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Hogwarts Fair, game: niffler dig / Connect the Weasleys 36 pack: Molly/Fred - fight

**.**

Molly had to confess that, sometimes, her sons disappointed her. Fred and George especially, since they seemed more inclined to joke around rather than take their studies seriously. But, beneath all the scolding and growling and angry faces, she was proud of what they accomplished.

And she could only appreciate the full extent of their brilliance after she'd snatched away their spoils and sent them, sulking, off to degnome the garden or something of the sort. Or that day they were trying to sneak all those magiked toffies to the Quidditch Cup before she'd caught them – and she'd sent them off with a harsh word, she knew, but afterwards, at home, she'd open them up and go through more spells than she'd thought she'd ever need as a house wife on them, and see the true extent of what they'd accomplished.

And she'd think that their wish of opening a joke shop wasn't so bad after all…but it was still near impossible. Getting a job at the Ministry was easier; they didn't need to build a following, start with an investment that might wind up going down the drain. There was nothing risky about it: a good comfortable job that would set them up for life. Even someone like Arthur who was in what people considered a poor-paying position – he was still capable of supporting his wife and seven children through Hogwarts.

But Fred and George were adamant about their joke shop future. A risky future she couldn't in all conscience encourage, especially when they didn't have enough to support that initial investment. So she didn't; she discouraged it instead – but if they did start up that joke shop after all, she would be very proud of them.


	109. Ginny was George's one and only little s

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character**: George Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Hogwarts Fair, game: niffler dig / Connect the Weasleys 36 pack: George/Ginny - perfection

**.**

Ginny was George's one and only little sister, so when she announced her engagement, George, like his other siblings, had to make sure this fiancé of hers was perfect for her.

Of course, seeing as the fiancé was Harry that they'd known for _years_, that was a bit of a moot point. But he still made a few jokes, enough to cover Fred's absence as well. He thought he did a good job anyway. Harry might think otherwise, being the brunt of most of those jokes.

But Harry was okay. He was perhaps the one guy in the world who would be perfect for Ginny, and the perfect addition to the family. Everyone loved him – even Percy, despite that little phase he'd gone through earlier. And they loved Harry for Harry: all those little things like how easily he slipped into their family and their hearts, how easy it was to forget the fame and fortune the rest of the world saw him for and remember the too pale and too thin boy who had a perpetually haunted look in his eyes.

Harry was as much a brother to George as Ginny was his sister, and they were the perfect pair together. George was happy for the both of them – and happy they'd make each other happy as well. The one person he didn't mind Ginny marrying at all…because very little would change. They might move out, have kids – but nothing else would change. They were as good as family anyway.

Somehow, the idea of someone new family members was a little uncomfortable, beside the gap that Fred's absence left. But Harry was fine. Harry was family anyway after all.


	110. He had a lot of time to think about regr

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character**: Gellert Grindelwald  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Bingo Card Drabble Competition, #27 – Gellert Grindelwald

**.**

He had a lot of time to think about regrets. A lot of time, since his plans for utopia had crumbled around him and he'd found himself shut away. A lot of time, since his pride had been torn away and all that had been left for him was downfall.

But, truthfully, he'd known it was coming a long time ago. When he'd made a friend: when he'd accepted he couldn't accomplish his dreams alone and had enlisted help. Because that alone showed he was weak, that he was far from the status of a ruler, of a god. That was a lonely position. He hadn't been lonely. Not at first.

Not until the day he lost his best friend.

He'd also known that day that he would be struck down by that same man's hands. But to see him so broken, so changed –

And to be rotting away in this dark little cell – he had a lot of time to think about all these things.


	111. She thinks sometimes she must have been

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character**: Aurora Sinistra  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Bingo Card Drabble Competition, #71 – Aurora Sinistra

**.**

She thinks sometimes she must have been a centaur in her past life, because the stars have always seemed closer to her than the ground. When she is lost, she can look up and see those familiar patterns guiding her way, unobscured by the dark veil that seemed to cover their world. Not even the clouds were enough to hide the light of the star.

All she had to do was look up and see them. It was a magic beyond what she could create with her wand, her inner prowess. A magic that seemed immortal, beyond the destruction their world was slowly slipping in to.

No-one could just blast a star out of the sky after all.


	112. She was one of those rare women that

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character**: Moran  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Bingo Card Drabble Competition, #53 – Moran

**.**

She was one of those rare woman that made the cut, one of those even rarer ones who didn't play for Irish's only girls' team. She never had stood for discrimination of gender, and she'd long since decided that, if a mixed team didn't want her, then that was their loss.

Except they did want her, because she'd coupled hard work with talent and it showed. She was one of the prodigies of her generation, and she earned her place in teams. Her school team first, then the varsity, then higher level ones until she eventually crawled onto the National stage as a reserve.

And then the leprechaun of luck smiled upon her. A chaser couldn't play, and suddenly she was put in that seat: to play her first ever match with the national team, in the Quidditch World Cup.

But she scored, and played well. She didn't bulk under the pressure: showed her stuff. And it was enough to earn her a place in the national team the next year, this time as a player.

She didn't see many other women in the air at the world cup, and it made her proud to think she was up there.


	113. The greenhouse was a smell she could nev

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character**: Pomona Sprout  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Bingo Card Drabble Competition, #80 – Pomona Sprout

**.**

The greenhouse was a smell she could never get enough of. It filled her: made her feel more sated than the vast Hogwarts buffet ever could. Because in the greenhouse she was at home, with herself and those precious plants she'd nurtured from infancy.

Not that she minded _people_, per say. But there was something in the plants she couldn't find anywhere else. Even with her precious Hufflepuffs and their large hearts – and that was what she tried to teach: that infinite space that plants seemed to create, that for humans, even wizards and witches like them, were restricted by emotions and pre-formed opinions.

Plants didn't choose who to kill or who to save, or who to be friendly to. It was one's treatment of those plants that decided it all, and Pomona…Pomona sought for a greenhouse that would befriend and save everyone, and kill no-one. That was the sort of home where she could trust everyone…

Because there was a war going on that meant she couldn't even trust her own students, because who knew which would suddenly turn with a killing curse despite how carefully she'd nurtured them.


	114. James liked to think he was the best

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Characters**: Lucy Weasley, James Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Connect the Weasleys Challenge, 72 Pack, Lucy/James – empire / The Pokemon Journey Challenge

**.**

James liked to think he was the best prankster around, but within her first year of Hogwarts, Lucy had set up some pretty stiff competition.

He wasn't quite sure how that had happened. Sure, she'd been pretty annoyed he and Al wouldn't let her play with them in pre-Hogwarts or holiday times. But how that equated to her being on the same level as them was beyond him. Al didn't help her. He didn't help her. And yet, there she was, challenging their self-proclaimed empire like she'd been born in it.

And considering her parents frowned at pranks more than theirs did, how she could have gained such momentum was –

And then it hit him. And when he asked Lucy, she affirmed it. 'Not Gryffindor enough to ask for help from the real expert?' she asked coyly, thereafter.

'Too Slytherin to think of it?' James returned, but he was impressed. He really was. They bugged their parents and uncles for all sorts of stories, but they hadn't thought of asking for some tuition in the ways if pranks from George. They'd always assumed he wouldn't tell.

But not Lucy. And she'd gotten to reap her rewards from that against them.


	115. Yellow was supposed to be a bright, warm

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Xenophilius/Gellert  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Slash/Femslash Boot Camp, #019 – yellow / The Pokemon Journey Challenge

**.**

Yellow was supposed to be a bright, warm colour, but he still felt cold wrapped in it. Luna was at Hogwarts too – nobody to walk in on his loneliness.

And there hadn't been for quite some time. Not since Luna's mother died. Not since before that, before he'd found a woman willing enough to keep him in the light. Now it was Luna who did that, but Luna was at school now.

There was no-one to keep the cold of an old lover away.

He had been young back then. Too young, and maybe a hint of foolish too. Falling for such an older, harsher man.

But he hadn't been all harsh. Those fantasies they'd talked about – they'd become the work of his life thereafter. Not the talk about _people_ – he'd never been one to think much about people in general and Gellert was quick to respect that. But those creatures that no-one seemed to accept, or understand. Beautiful, secret, beasts seen on the road. That he longed to unravel the mystery around.

It was those creatures that told Geller what a miserable world this was. And, wrapped in the warmth of yellow but still cold, Xenophilius could find himself agreeing. A cold world, for not letting loves last forever. Not Gellert, not that hind hearted woman who became his wife and warm light thereafter, not Luna…

Luna was all he had left now.


	116. Choosing sides was easy when you started

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character**: Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: The If You Dare Challenge, #007 – green with envy / the Pokemon Journey Challenge

**.**

Choosing sides was easy when you started on the right one. Potter had it easy. He was born to the light, and anyone who thought he was going to go dark was kidding themselves.

It was the other way for Draco, and, unfortunately, he was one of those people kidding himself. Because he did want to switch, to turn away from that wretched hole his family was in. But there was no conceivable way for that to happen.

His own family and friends would betray him – if they weren't the price over his head to stop him. Or both. His family would be in danger the moment he made a move. The worst it would finish would be his mother killing her with her own wand – and He'd make her do it. Just to run salt on to the wound – and then his parents would be finished as well.

And Dumbledore and Potter weren't Gods. They wouldn't be fast enough to save them, so snug under their Master's thumb.


	117. They were in an interesting situation

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Lavender/Hermione  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Slash/Femslash Boot Camp, #020 – guilty / the Pokemon Journey Challenge

**.**

They were in an interesting situation, in the end. Both of them having fallen for the same guy. Both of them having broken up with him because of the other girl. Both of them having spent the better part of a year and thensome hating each other, before realising that feeling was not hate at all but something else.

And now everything was how it was meant to be, except for the one person who'd paid the price for their blindness – the person they'd chased after under a delusion they hadn't, in the end, been entirely faithful too – or maybe they'd just chosen the wrong person: the same person, to steal them away from the path they were falling down.

Maybe it was fate that it was the same person and impossible. So they could be together in the end.


	118. While Molly ranted away in the front gar

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Arthur Weasley, Charlie Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Connect the Weasleys Challenge, 36 Pack, Arthur/Charlie – tea / the Pokemon Journey Challenge

**.**

While Molly ranted away in the front garden to show her displeasure, Arthur simply poured a cup of tea for himself and his son.

Somehow, that just made Charlie more nervous. Because while he could tell what his mother was thinking (it was quite obvious), he couldn't make out his father's thoughtful expression to be anything aside from that – thoughtful.

But when his father spoke, it was obvious he wasn't upset in the least. Just thoughtful. 'So…dragons.'

'Umm…yes.' Charlie lowered his gaze. He wondered how awkward he would feel when he finally managed to bring a girl home. 'I like them, and well…'

He didn't think he was doing a terribly good job at explaining himself, but Arthur smiled. 'That's good,' he said. 'That's the most important thing; that you like your job.'

Charlie perked up. That sounded like approval to him. 'But Mum – '

'Is just worried.' Arthur's smile dimmed a little. 'Dragons are dangerous.'

'Well, yes, but less than some wizards,' Charlie pointed out. 'And better than giants and stuff like that.'

Arthur took another sip of his tea. 'True enough,' he said finally. 'You should try that angle with your mother.'

Charlie winced at the thought of invoking more of his mother's wrath – even though he understood what his father was saying – that she was just worried, that the both of them were just worried about him like parents did.


	119. Later generations would say it was a lie

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Godric/Salazar  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Slash/Femslash Boot Camp, #021 – never / the Pokemon Journey Challenge

**.**

Later generations would say it was a lie: that Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin who'd ended their lives in such bitter enmity couldn't possibly have been lovers prior to that.

But those later generations had no proof: only speculation. And it was their denial that kept them from the truth – those long decades of distrust and enmity between the two Houses named after those two great men who'd, in their final years, blackened the intimacy they'd shared…

And everyone remembered that enmity their lives had ended with, but not the times before that: those sweet and happy times that saw them up on the hills, rolling about like carefree children, or on the towers staring out at the night sky and tracing constellations it would take decades after to understand…

They only remembered that time they'd lifted their wands to the other's heart in rage.


	120. The courtroom was colder than any dungeo

**/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Amateur Divination Game Challenge, round 1 – would you lie for a friend in court?

**.**

The courtroom was colder than any dungeon, and it wasn't just the Dementors hovering.

But they hovered. And it took all his despair to hold them at bay – because that sickened them. Despair. And he had too few happy memories to surrender to them.

Azkaban must be like eating clean-scraped bones, he thought. No wonder they loved the courtroom.

It made it difficult for the victims, surely. And the innocent.

But he wasn't innocent.

And the spectators knew it. They were crying for his blood.

But Albus Dumbledore was in the crowd: the bounds of his promise. The promise that had failed, but was still there…

And he had to stay out of jail for that purpose. The promise he'd exchanged to save a life that hadn't been spared.

The source of all his despair.


	121. Harry had decided ice-cream was a great

**/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Harry Potter, Fortescue  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Amateur Divination Game Challenge, round 2 – what is your favourite ice-cream flavour?

**.**

Harry had decided ice-cream was a great way to do homework, especially in the summer. And he didn't think he was in any danger of becoming a tub like Dudley either. Which was lovely, because it meant he could spent sweltering days outside and devour two or three cones while pouring over his History of Magic essays…something he would usually have to do under his coverlets, quiet as a mouse at two in the morning.

It was too bad he wouldn't be able to replicate this in the following years. Unless, by some miracle, his aunt and uncle decided they wouldn't house him any more, and he could find a nice place near Diagon Alley (or even far away, if the Knight Bus was a permanent thing – and it wasn't like money was going to be an issue), he would be back at Number 4 Privet Drive during the summer.

The ice-cream at Privet Drive wasn't as good as Fortescue's, at least. Probably. He hadn't tasted it, but Florence had a lot to say about muggle ice-cream and most of it pointed to its inferiority.

That always made Harry grin. A second silver lining if he ever needed one: Dudley didn't know what he was missing out on. Simple, bland favours like vanilla and chocolate when you could have treacle and raspberry and hazelnuts.


	122. At times like this, she couldn't mind th

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Lavender/Luna  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: the Stratified Agate Competition Level 1B – 100-200 word drabble / The Slash/Femslash Boot Camp, #39 – child

**.**

At times like this, she couldn't mind the moon.

Yes, it hurt when it first brushed over her: when it melted her pale, smooth _human_ skin and made a beast of her. Yes, it hurt when the light finally faded into those few precious moments of darkness before the dawn when her body could moult back into its human form without the rest of the world grimacing at the sight, and at the tears which proved how unnatural a change it was.

But, afterwards, in a comfortable bed in a comfortable house – though she had found it altogether strange at first – with that sweet, easy on the ears, voice singing healing songs and giving her delicious stew that made her body tingle and feel oh so warm…

And how she, Luna, would just waltz into her bedroom with smiles and stories that were wilder than any fantasy they knew – wild enough to make her smile, make her feel like a chid being told bed-time stories…

And when she tended to those wounds, her soft fingers caressed them and her soft lips kissed them and they felt like human wounds.

And for that beautiful scene, Lavender couldn't mind the moon.


	123. The moon had lots of tales for her

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Luna  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: the Stratified Agate Competition Level 1C – write about a childhood moment of one member of your pairing

**.**

The moon had lots of tales for her. Tales her mother had told when they were all young and she was still alive.

She was up in the heavens now. But the tales were still there. And, often, on quiet full moon nights Luna would find herself staring up at the moon and remembering those old stories.

Sometimes, it felt like the ghost of her mother would come down from the heavens and retell them.

And Luna would close her eyes and the pair of them would be whisked away to those earlier days. Days where Luna could snugly fit into her mother's lap. Days where her mother's hair would tangle with the grass and, laughing, her father would have to pull them out the morning after. Days where all those stories had seemed mystical, unimaginable…and it hadn't even mattered whether she believed them or not because she got to listen to her mother's soft voice telling them…

And, maybe, it was her way to keep them alive now by believing them.

That first day, under the moon, after her mother had flown to the heavens, she'd tried to believe they _were_ true. And the moon had smiled and told her even more tales: tales her mother had not the time to tell.

And it was so easy to believe in the moon and those tales.


	124. In between full moons, it seemed like ev

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Lavender/Luna, one-sided Luna/Neville  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: the Stratified Agate Competition Level 1D – write about one member of your pairing experiencing jealousy / The Slash/Femslash Boot Camp, #36 – oblivious

**.**

In between full moons, it seemed like everyone got more attention than her. Ginny would drop by once a fortnight without fail, often bringing Harry along. Sometimes Ron and Neville came along – and Neville was the most uncomfortable presence because even though he was still as sweet and clumsy as in their Hogwarts days, he was the only unmarried male that would come to Luna's house.

And Lavender was quite sure he fancied her.

As for Luna, it was hard to tell. She was sweet to everyone, nice to everyone, unable to see the fault in anyone. She kept Lavender who had no job or home or anywhere to go in what she called "a big lonely house that needed more brightness in it" and, sometimes, Lavender would laugh and wonder how she qualified as brightness in any sense of the world.

On the days preceding and following a full moon though, it was a heaven and she wouldn't trade it for anything.

It was magical, almost. A soothing place. A beautiful place where she could feel human, and at peace. Where nobody would judge her – and people did judge her. Not Ginny and harry and Ron and Neville who would come to visit…though she knew they only came for Luna. Seamus came for her, but Seamus came when there was no moon and wore a funny look on his face.

But that didn't matter, but Luna was always there and it was always Luna.

But when Neville was there and Luna was smiling and flitting about him like she did with all her guests (and Lavender thought she was a guest too, probably), Lavender would worry that he would leave and take her with him and this paradise would turn into a lonely place again.

And why not? Neville was everything she wasn't. And it was laughable, really, that she'd come to a day where she was jealous of Neville Longbottom.


	125. She knew it couldn't have ever happened

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Lavender/Luna  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: the Stratified Agate Competition Level 2B – write about your pairing breaking up/ The Slash/Femslash Boot Camp, #32 – self-control

**.**

She knew it couldn't have ever happened, but still her mind screamed and feral growls erupted from her throat: the werewolf in her that hovered, close to the surface even so far from the moon.

And Luna just smiled serenely, though sadly, at her. Not frightened at all. What had been her saving grace, the thing that made her irreplaceable…unreachable.

She'd tried to ignore the fact that Luna had, always been, unreachable.

And that Luna's dream of a bright and crowded and united home would be something she would never be able to give.

And it didn't matter what Ginny and Harry and all them said. So what if Professor Lupin had a son; he was a man. She was a woman whose first transformation after the conception would crush the child forming inside of her. And that was assuming she ever found the heart to sleep with another man.

Her heart had been crushed by that bite; it was Luna, only Luna, who kept it. And she who selfishly clung to her. Who didn't want her to drift away.

But Luna was. Luna who flitted through life with a smile on her face. Luna the saviour. Luna who stayed even during the full moon, not fearing a bite or a swipe of claws that would leave her a battered, bloody mess upon the floor.

But even Luna whose feet did not touch the ground could be swept off those feet. Even Luna could be selfish.

And now Luna was saying she was engaged, that she would marry, she was invited to the wedding, that she would leave the house to her –

She didn't want it! It was Luna, _Luna_ who made it a paradise: who made it safe and kind and beautiful…

But even if the animalistic part of her wanted to scratch and the walls and howl until the animals in the forest fled, she knew this was where she had to be selfless. Where she had to pay Luna back for all she'd done, all she'd saved…

So even though she was howling inside, she managed a small, weak smile in return.


	126. It was only fair that Luna was pampered

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Lavender/Luna  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: the Stratified Agate Competition Level 2C – write a fluffy 200-300 word drabble about your pairing / The Slash/Femslash Boot Camp, #46 – comfort

**.**

It was only fair that Luna was pampered too, for all the pampering Lavender received by her hands.

And the pampering was lovely. It made her feel calm, relaxed…and beautiful and human, and those last two were difficult to come by some days. But Luna did it, and she did it all with that soft and tender smile that Lavender had grown used to.

Luna, who'd never cared what others thought, had become her saviour.

And so it was only fair, that Lavender pamper her when the opportunity arose. When Luna came down with some sort of flu that Pepper-Up potion couldn't quickly cure. And all of Luna's strange tastes had rolled over in the time they'd spent together, so it was an easy feat to collect enough mushrooms and clams and bark for that stew, or enough of plants she still couldn't quite remember the names of but could recognise by smell, to make that special herbal tea.

And it was lovely to watch Luna smile in that way she always smiled, in that way that had seemed bizarre and unbidden back in their Hogwarts days but was beautiful and wanting now.

And it was lovely to hear Luna mumble how lucky she was while returning it was she who was the lucky one, the one who had Luna. And going back and forth like a play fight and it didn't really matter who won.

Because they were together, smiling on Luna's bed with Luna's unique concoctions cooked by Lavender's hands between them and that was all that mattered.


	127. The bridge was not very good shelter

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Lavender/Luna, one-sided Luna/Neville  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: the Stratified Agate Competition Level 3A – write about your pairing caught in the rain together / The Slash/Femslash Boot Camp, #35 – wind

**.**

The bridge was not very good shelter, but neither of them felt like running back to the house on the hill.

And, honestly, neither of them minded the rain.

So, instead, they watched it pour, unmasked, with the shells they'd gone out to collect wrapped in Luna's scarf.

The rain washed everything away. The wind that would blow pollen that would otherwise have made Lavender sneeze, and blow the bits of dry grass and broken twigs that would have found themselves in Luna's hair and would have taken an age to comb out. The sun that had been glaringly bright, so bright that it might have shown the moon as well, even in the daytime… And the sound of the press printing which sometimes got on even Luna's nerves…

But clouds and rain covered everything except its own sound, its own smell, and its own water.

And they sat under the bridge, their dresses soaking up puddles and drips slowly wetting the rest of them, and just watched the rain pour.


	128. Neville was over too often, Lavender tho

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Lavender/Luna, one-sided Luna/Neville  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: the Stratified Agate Competition Level 2A – write about your pairing breaking up / The Slash/Femslash Boot Camp, #24 – protect

**.**

Neville was over too often, Lavender thought. And she had no choice but to accept it because it wasn't her house: it was Luna's house and Luna could have whoever she liked as her visitors and Lavender shouldn't have a word to say about it.

But she did, and close to the full moon when her temper was running high, she would scream at Luna and the walls – and then cry the morning after. And Neville would somehow know to stay away for a few days (probably because Luna told him) and Luna would be there whispering sweet things and the house would smell even more peaceful than before, but with that sad expression on her face and Lavender would feel just horrible and not just because the full moon was just around the corner…

But she was selfish and she needed Luna and she didn't want to go away and let Luna live her life: Luna who'd felt sympathetic when no one else had.

But, truthfully, Lavender could have managed on her own. Like all the other wolves, living in the wild. Or like Professor Lupin, who'd gotten on in the Muggle world. She'd grown spoilt. Or she could do what Hermione had been after her to do since she'd been bitten. What Bill Weasley had been doing since _his_ tussle with Greyback even if he hadn't become a werewolf for it… She'd just been stubborn. Self-decrepitating.

Finally, when she decided she couldn't bear that face of Luna's any more and she had to get out of that paradise before she destroyed it herself, she wrote to Hermione, who sent a portkey that very same day.

A few days later, she told Luna she was leaving.

And she told herself she was imagining the look of hurt on Luna's face because she was in love with Neville.

It was only Lavender who'd fallen heads over heels for her angel.


	129. Those event hats had grown on her

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Lavender/Luna  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: the Stratified Agate Competition Level 2C – write a fluffy 200-300 word drabble about your pairing / The Slash/Femslash Boot Camp, #30 – celebrate

**.**

Those event hats had grown on her. They'd been a blast on the Quidditch Pitch – the only time she hadn't grown bored of such a long game. It had been quite entertaining, then, watching the lion-shaped spectre emerge from the hat and cheer or yell bits of encouragement as soon as she felt like nodding off or scraping off her nail polish. Almost like it was timed to her.

And, later, when they shared a roof and an invitation to a Harpies game (thanks to Ginny Weasley playing her debut match) and Luna set about making a Harpies variation of the hat, Lavender decided to pitch in.

'Pick a girlier hat,' she said, firstly, after eyeing the black bowler hat critically. 'That's fine for a co-ed team, but the Harpies are all girls. They need to make a fashion statement.'

So they abandoned the cluttered living room and apparated to the village shops to find something better.

They found a nice cream one with a wide brim.

Next was the question of the animal to dance.

'Birds?' Luna wondered. 'Not eagles, I think; too close to Ravenclaw.'

Lavender agreed, and she thought vultures or crows would be rather unflattering too. But birds with gold talons weren't easy to think of, even for someone who knew more animals than most – even if not all of them existed.

'Owls?' came the suggestion finally. Nothing to do with gold talons, but they were sharp eyed and Ginny was as good a seeker as she was a chaser – the position of her dreams and the one she'd snagged.

And so they both wore cream hats with wide brims and owls flying on them in commemoration of Ginny's first professional match – and couldn't care less about the less than flattering share of comments they received.


	130. It was all fine for those who were actua

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Lavender/Luna  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: the Stratified Agate Competition Level 3A – write about your pairing caught in the rain together / The Slash/Femslash Boot Camp, #50 – incredulous

**.**

It was all fine for those who were actually playing Quidditch – since they couldn't well abandon their game for the rain – but the spectators were abandoning their seats for cover. A few of the older years just charmed themselves with something or other to keep themselves dry, but it wasn't a spell on their syllabus quite yet and so Lavender didn't know it.

How that equivalated into losing Parvati in the crowd and being huddled under a small outcrop with Loony Lovegood was beyond Lavender, but that was what happened. And she could think of a good people who'd be better company – and Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley were on that list too. Loony – Luna – could drive a person crazy with her odd sort of chatter…and there really weren't too many other nooks out of the rain left. None that she could see.

And all she really had to do was ignore her company…or get some delicious gossip for Parvati later.

Which meant listening to her chattering about Nargles and what-not and watching those walnut earings of hers swing.

'Why walnuts?' she asked finally. It wasn't like she'd seen those before; she and Parvati had had a good laugh at them when they'd first noticed. But she had to admit they didn't look so wild now, with Luna's wild, windblown hair.

'They're good for the mind,' Luna said serenely, fingering them. 'They're hollow, you know. I fill them with things sometimes. Gives them more potency.'

That made it sound more like a potions concortion, and Lavender hid a grimace.

'Lavender is good,' Luna said, suddenly.

Lavender stared.

'The plant,' Luna qualified. 'My mother was trying to make a less addictive version of the calming drought using them. She never finished.'

'What happened?' Lavender asked, curiously.

'She died,' Luna said simply.

And that caught Lavender off guard for a moment. 'I'm sorry,' she said, finally. 'That's…sad.'

'It is sad,' Luna agreed – and now the voice seemed a little creepy, though in truth it hadn't changed at all throughout their conversation. That was what was creepy. 'Oh look.'

Lavender saw Cho Chang dive after the snitch, but she was sure that wasn't what Luna had been talking about.


	131. Disney on Ice was such a Muggle magical

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Cho Chang, Hermione Granger  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: The Amateur Divination Challenge Round 3 (what is your favourite Disney movie?)

**.**

Disney on Ice was such a _Muggle_ magical thing that Cho had never expected to find a wizard or witch from her Hogwarts days there. Especially since she was sitting in the Rod Laver Arena, miles away from Britain and its magical population.

Least of all Hermione Granger, who dug up more dead bodies in the closet than she liked to admit.

But Hermione didn't say anything about any of those dead bodies. She only said: 'Anastasia was my favourite as a child, you know.'

'Really.' She fought her voice to keep it uncracked. 'I'm more of a Mulan girl, myself.'

'The independent warrior.' Hermione raised an eyebrow.

Cho wondered if she was thinking about Roger and Harry and Michael – about Cedric's death.

'So…what bring you to Australia?' she asked, finally. Might as well get the curiosity out of the way.

'My parents,' Hermione replied immediately. 'I sent them here to keep them out of the way of the war.'

Cho laughed. 'Funny how I chose to come here to get away from the aftermath of the war.' Though she agreed it had been a good choice.

'Why?' Hermione asked. 'I can think of a lot of people who'd have fled from the new world before you.'

'I didn't flee,' Cho said simply. 'I was just looking for a different world.'

Hermione turned back to the stage, where the skaters in their masks danced on glittering ice.

'Fair enough,' she said. 'This certainly is a different type of magic.'


	132. Luna had always been an oddball

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Lavender/Luna  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: the Stratified Agate Competition Level 3B – write about your pairing moving in together / The Slash/Femslash Boot Camp, #25 – beginning / The If You Dare Challenge, #009 - blankly

**.**

Luna had always been an oddball, but Lavender had thought even she'd be a little concerned at having a werewolf under her roof.

But, then again, her father _had_ blown up said house with an _Erumpent horn_, thinking it belonged to a Crumple-Horned Snorkack, so maybe she wasn't too particular about dangerous things.

Not that Lavender liked to consider herself dangerous, but when she'd almost been mauled to death by Greyback…well…

It might have been kinder if she _had_ been mauled to death. At least she wouldn't have been a shamed pure-blood ostracised by her family.

And she wouldn't be dragging her little night bag (only there because she had better friends than she deserved and even better ex-classmates) up the awkwardly arranged front steps of the Lovegood home.

'I'm afraid it still needs some fixing,' Luna said airily. Unlike Lavender who lumbered awkwardly, she floated. Though it _was_ her house. 'I'm not too good at repair spells, but the bedrooms at least will hold. Mrs Weasley did that part.'

Which wasn't much of a comfort to Lavender who only knew the magical abilities of one Ron Weasley.

'Your bedroom… ' Hers already. That girl would be singing a different tune after the full moon, Lavender thought bitterly. Lavender had, after her first one. Barely stitched wounds ripping open again. Good bones shattering. Body heaving and changing. All strangely dull because of the potions she'd been saddled up with beforehand.

'The moon is pleasant here.' Luna was smiling at her, breaking off whatever vein she had wondered along. 'I promise.'

That's what she'd said when she'd shown up at the hospital to sign a bunch of papers and bring a werewolf girl who no longer had a home to hers.

Lavender followed her to the bedroom. She might as well relax the three weeks she had before the next full moon. And work out how to order some Wolfsbane. And how to afford it since she was now cut off from her family fortune – and the reward from the ministry had gone into saving her life.

But Luna took care of that as well and the first full moon came and went and Lavender could feel herself accepting, adjusting, _liking_ this strange little home and the girl who'd all but dragged her there.

Soon, she didn't want to leave. And Luna never asked her to leave.


	133. Xenophilius Lovegood must have been a st

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Lavender/Luna  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: the Stratified Agate Competition Level 3C – write about your pairing either getting along with or not getting along with each other's families / The Slash/Femslash Boot Camp, #38 – speechless / The If You Dare Challenge, #361 – at my parent's house

**.**

Xenophilius Lovegood must have been a strange man in life, because he made for a very strange portrait in death.

Or, rather, he was even stranger than his daughter was, and while Lavender was starting to get used to Luna, she was in no way used to her father.

Who couldn't even seem to get her name right. Called her "Moonrose" instead, and then would go on about all its magical properties – which she'd looked up and found were mostly non-existent. And then go on about all the good sides werewolves had and how the lycanthropy was actually a virus engineered by some Minister of Magic in some power-hungry reign.

It was a nice change from her parents though, and she honestly didn't know why Luna insisted on keeping them updated about her life. Like they wanted to know she was living with a lower-classman, was using wolfsbane and being a perfectly docile wolf during the full moon, was running a small fashion business and helping Luna with the Quibbler…

She didn't write to them. Luna did, and she never got a reply. But Luna insisted the letters were going through, that her parents were reading them, that her parents were relieved to know she was doing well, that they didn't mind a total stranger was writing to them…

They could damn well say that directly. Xenophilius Lovegood was a portrait of a dead man and he was more a parent to her at this point.


	134. Crookshanks was a cat He also had perso

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Crookshanks, Hermione Granger  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: the Amateur Divination Challenge, Round 3 – if Liza went to the supermarket around the corner, what would she buy? / The If You Dare Challenge, #667 – black cat (in the context of black sheep :D)

**.**

Crookshanks was a cat. He also had personality. And that meant that he didn't have to fit into all those clichés and presumptions everyone was fond of coming up with and like milk.

He didn't have to…and he didn't. Like milk. Plain milk anyhow. Coffee from a tin was perfectly fine. And yet, the house elves would always give him some. Plain milk. And call him "bad" for not drinking it.

Bah. His mistress had learnt quickly enough he didn't like milk, and had never forced the issue. And once she found out he liked coffee from a can, she'd give him some. Not all the time, but some times. When she went to the supermarket on the holidays, she'd buy a can. Every week. And make those cans last until the Christmas break. Like a dieting thing.

Crookshanks could appreciate that. He had understanding too, after all. And lots of coffee wasn't good for a human or a cat.


	135. He stared at himself His reflection sta

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Blaise  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: The Fanfic Dominoes Challenge, Blaise/Blaise.

**.**

He stared at himself. His reflection stared back.

He nodded in approval. His reflection nodded back.

_Looking good._

But, of course, he could always look better.

He gave his image another critical eye. His reflection did the same.

Maybe he could smooth his hair a touch there. Lift it up there.

Such subtleties required his wand. He pulled it out. So did his reflection.

Together, they pushed and prodded and coaxed his hair into place.

Then he withdrew. His reflection took a step back as well.

He stared. His reflection stared.

Then they both gave a nod of approval.

_Better._


	136. Muggle music was weird, Ron decided, but

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Ron/Hermione  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: the Amateur Divination challenge, round 5 – what is your favourite Taylor Swift song?

**.**

Muggle music was weird, Ron decided, but the wizarding world had its fair share of music too so he supposed it wasn't too big of a deal. At least Hermione didn't listen to as much music as his mother did. That was a definite bonus.

And she rarely listened to those annoying upbeat songs that made him want to pull his hair out.

But the same couldn't be said for the extended family. Some of Hermione's cousins – or second cousins or cousins several times removed or something to that order – loved the wilder stuff that made him block his ears. And Hermione would tug his fingers out because that was rude and they should honour their guests' preferences…buts she'd wear a grimace as well.

Luckily, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes sold earplugs for the occasion – and charmed to be invisible to all but the wearer too. Ron ordered two sets.

It was much easier to keep a pleasant face in front of the music then.


	137. The counter was cast before the spell wa

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Severus, Harry  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: the Amateur Divination challenge, round 6 – in a game of rock, paper, scissors, what will Alys throw?

**.**

The counter was cast before the spell was out of the other's wand. It was that easy. Because his thoughts screamed. Because he was so _obvious_.

Part of him wanted to sneer. But another part of him despaired: the part that was the spy, the part that was secretly rooting for the other side. The part that had hoped he'd learned something in that year's Defence Against the Dark Arts. The part that had hoped he would be strong enough to fend off Death Eaters like the front he wore.

But he wasn't. He couldn't. He was screaming all his spells and he didn't even need to scan his mind to counter them, he was that obvious.

It was a show of arrogance…and hopelessness.


	138. He was not going to admit he liked it

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing(s)**: Snape/Fred  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: fanfic dominoes challenge

**.**

He was not going to admit he liked it. He didn't. Those dratted twins that reminded him of four other boys –

But they were kinder. And, sometimes, he thought they respected him as well.

And they weren't complete doppelgangers, following each other in an endless loop. Potter and Black had been like that for too long. It was why he hated them so much.

Even though the Weasley twins often looked like that.

He never had trouble telling them apart.

Fred was a little more serious than George. George was a little more…flighty.

Fred would settle down at some point. George probably wouldn't.

Fred was what James Potter should have been, to be even remotely tolerable.

And no, that did not mean he could tolerate Fred Weasley's presence at all.


	139. He hated the holidays, because it was tw

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Tom Riddle Jr.  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: the Amateur Divination challenge, round 7 – what is the most memorable post on this thread?

**.**

He hated the holidays, because it was two months away from Hogwarts. Two months trapped in that Muggle orphanage to rot. Two months were he couldn't use magic. Where he had to be very careful about what he did, and where.

But the acting wasn't new. He had to do that in Hogwarts anyway, because he needed to take care of his image. Dumbledore was too suspicious. He didn't want anyone else being like that. Anyone else keeping too sharp an eye on him. Hindering him. Holding him back.

But he was still young. His knowledge was still incomplete. Hogwarts wasn't a bad place to be held back in.

But, at the orphanage, there was nothing to do. Nothing to be done. Except wait. And hate.


	140. He killed him And now he was looking

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing(s)**: Theo/Fred  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: fanfic dominoes challenge

**.**

He killed him. And now he was looking at that laughing face, unmarked in death.

The Avada Kevadra was too good. It left everything intact. But that was what he'd wanted. What he'd aimed for. And the battle had moved on from that point, leaving the corpse behind. Leaving his prize behind.

He hadn't moved on with them. He wanted to hang back a little. To gloat. To pity. To deny.

Stupid Weasley who couldn't not be a blood-traitor. Stupid Weasley shooting winks along with spells in the middle of a battle. He liked to think that distracted him. That brought him out on top, when he'd always been pushed to the bottom before because there was far too many of the Light at this stupid school and he was just outnumbered.

But it had nothing to do with him. It was that other Weasley. The one who'd always frowned at their fun. Threatened to tell his mummy. Though, for whatever reason, he never had. Maybe he never really saw all the frustration that lay beneath not-so-kind-hearted pranks and retaliations. Not even the twin Weasley had seen. Not even his friends. Otherwise they'd have known who it was that killed him. Otherwise, they would have known who was standing there now, standing over him.

He should leave a mark, he decided. But what mark? What best, that wouldn't bring the wrath of the entire Weasley family upon him – but did he even care about that?

Apparently he did. He decided to mark something inside. Something that couldn't be seen.

And because that boy had been stubbornly Light and let that come between them, let himself lose their struggle because of it, he marked it with Dark magic.


	141. He'd wanted so badly to go home

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Ron Weasley  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Amateur Divination Challenge, Round 8 – where does a remi want to go most in the world? (home)

**.**

He'd wanted so badly to go home but now that he was alone and free to do so, he knew he couldn't.

He couldn't face them, knowing how weak he'd been. How he'd run away.

He couldn't even go back because they'd hid themselves so well.

He could only stand and angrily run tears of frustration from his cheeks. And stand, in the cold with his wand and a wand that wasn't his own and bared skin where a fingernail should have been.

It was poor punishment, but he'd take it for his foolishness.

Until he couldn't stand anymore, couldn't desperately search. And he had to calm himself. He had to think.

If he couldn't go home, where else could he go?

Somewhere where he'd be both safe and scorned.


	142. He was nothing special He wanted to be

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing(s)**: Theo/Theo  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: fanfic dominoes challenge

**.**

He was nothing special. He wanted to be special.

It was easy enough to be special, after the Malfoys fell out of favour. The young and barely initiated fell over their black robes to bow at the Dark Lord's feet. He was one of them. He wanted to be one of the ones who stood behind him instead: proud and arrogant.

For the moment, he had nothing to be arrogant about. Nothing to be self-pleased about.

He would change that, soon. He would make himself proud. Make the Dark Lord proud so he could stand up straight – and then he could have accomplished something for himself. He could be someone worthy, someone at whom he could stare in the mirror and say: 'I love this person. I love me.'


	143. They were the hottest potentials of Gryf

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing(s)**: Lavender/Fred  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: fanfic dominoes challenge

**.**

They were the hottest potentials of Gryffindor, and she paid enough attention to know which one was slightly harder to get. They had their physical differences and those girls like Lavender and Parvati with an eye for fashion had no trouble telling them apart.

They also had no trouble picking out the glances one Weasley twin sent to Angelina Johnson. And they knew enough via. the gossip mill to know it hadn't developed into anything – which meant he was still on the market.

Which also meant he was the more interesting twin to go after.

And Lavender never backed down from a challenge. Because the Weasley twins are cute and cool and smart and what else except a spark to tie them together did a girl need?

And she planned on finding that spark with Fred Weasley. Or at least giving it the good ol' try.


	144. Few were still in hiding, and those that

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing(s)**: Snape/Theo  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: fanfic dominoes challenge; The Amateur Divination Challenge Round 9 – favourite HP book (Deathly Hallows)

**.**

Few were still in hiding, and those that were needed to look out for each other. Severus looked at his students. He didn't teach them anymore, but he still saw them: in the Great Hall, in the grounds, around the school…

Not nearly enough to protect them. Luckily, they were doing a good job of protecting each other. Dumbledore's Army was foolish but they bolstered the spirits in the school – the spirits of almost all of Gryffindor…of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws who hated the change…and there were even a few Slytherins in favour.

But Slytherin was the house of the Dark Lord and they couldn't show that at all.

Severus could only tell because he'd so long been a spy. And one student in particular, who'd have a painful choice to make the moment he left the school…and that time was only months away. He'd graduate soon. He'd be kissing the hem of the Dark Lord's cloak beside his father and he'd have to choose. Watching a rebellion wouldn't be enough anymore.

He so dearly wanted to protect that boy. There was one person that could be saved at least. Moreso than Draco who was already marked, already tainted – Theo was still free.

But free to what end? In the school he could pretend and get away with it. In school, Severus could watch him, could help from the shadows. But once Theo graduated and Severus remained headmaster, things would be different. Theo wouldn't be able to hide in the shadows. He would have to choose and the dark would rip him apart for anything less.

If only Theo would still be in school in seven years.

Or if only the Dark Lord was dead before he graduated.

Neither of those seemed likely. Though the latter was what Severus had been working so very long for.

At the start, it had been for Lily.

Now…it was for people like Theo. And, at that time, Theo most of all. The only one so vulnerable. The only one so close.


	145. Theodora was as silly a name as Nymphodo

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character(s)**: Teddy Lupin (gender-bent)  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Amateur Divination Challenge, Round 10 – Remus' daughter.

**.**

Theodora was as silly a name as Nymphodora, which was probably why they named her that. Following family traditions and all.

Though she'd rather have her family than those traditions.

At least there was Grandma still. And her godfather, and his family…his rather large family that did away with the want for cousins and second cousins and maybe even siblings too. He was at the Potters at least two nights a week and they treated him no differently than their own children when they came along. He called them aunt and uncle too – not Mum and Dad though. They were saved for the parents she would never know except through tales.

But there was an abundance of tales and she was ever so glad to have them. About the parents she never knew. About the grandfather she never knew. About the tragedies and the joys and a great many other things she never knew. It was sad, but it was all she had of them. That and some possessions and her name.

So even though it was a silly name, she would treasure it always.


	146. If you couldn't be in your house,' Luna

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Lavender/Luna  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: the Stratified Agate Competition Level 4A - write about your pairing discovering something new about each other

**.**

'If you couldn't be in your house,' Luna wondered dreamily, 'where do you think the Hat would have put you?'

'How do you mean?' Lavender asked. In retrospect, it was a rather tame question, at least compared to Luna's usual ones, but it still managed to catch the other off guard.

But as she always said, what was life without a little fun?

'Say there was some reason you couldn't be in Gryffindor,' Luna explained. 'It's easier to explain with Slytherin. 'They get very few muggleborns, but it's not because Slytherin actively filters them out, but –'

'But because the rest of the house would eat them alive,' Lavender finished. 'Gryffindor's not like that though.' She could see Luna's point though. If Hermione hadn't become fast friends with Harry and Ron, she'd have been ostracised by her House despite being sorted into it. Luna kind of _had_ been ostracised by hers. 'So which of the other three Houses?'

Luna bopped her head.

Lavender studied her nails. 'Hufflepuff,' she said finally. 'I hope I'm loyal and hardworking – with a few exceptions – enough.'

'I think you are,' Luna replied. 'I would say Slytherin for myself.'

Lavender blinked at her. 'I thought you'd say Gryffindor.'

Luna smiled. 'I cheated a little. The Hat did consider Slytherin.'

And she drifted off from the topic thereafter, so it was another conversation that explained _why_.


	147. The latest wolfsbane had made her feel

(and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Lavender/Luna  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: the Stratified Agate Competition Level 4B - write about the kiss that never happened (your pairing almost kiss, or one thinks the other wants to kiss them, but it does not happen/is not implied to happen later in your fic)

**.**

The latest wolfsbane had made her feel like a puppy. Maybe it was the new formulation. They tried. She knew they were trying. Luna and Neville and Hermione and Parvati. But they hadn't found anything yet. Changes happened though, and they watched diligently for those changes. They just didn't involve Lavender being fully human in a full moon.

The closest was two times ago where her eyes managed to stay their normal brown. They still did, but whatever they'd done with this batch had stone some of the efficacy of the original wolfsbane, because she was in less control of herself than she'd ever been. Not in a wolf sense, but the playful sort: she wanted to play all night long, lick everybody's faces silly and chase a stick, and then curl up and fall asleep with someone scratching her back.

They entertained her. She was doing them as much of a favour as they were doing her, or it was just because they were friends or something like that. They had Parvati to thank anyhow; she was the one who'd managed to create a charm that masked the human scent from beasts like werewolves. Dead useful if the wolfsbane went totally wrong, which it had on occasion. Those days Lavender wound up with extra scars but she'd never lament on them too long. Because if they got a cure out of it, it was worth it. And she was the closest werewolf to them: friend, ally, sister in combat. She'd be damned if she didn't do it and let somebody else.

Especially when her best friend and her girlfriend were involved.

Still, there were moments. Painful moments. Scary moments. Embarrassing moments. The lingering puppy feel was embarrassing, especially when she woke up and found everybody covered in liberal slobber. But they were smiling. Wearily smiling because it was back to the drawing board, but smiling nonetheless.

'Were you trying to kiss your girlfriend or the rest of us?' Parvati teased.

'You didn't get anyone on the lips,' Hermione assured quickly, though she also looked amused. 'Though you did cake us with quite a bit of saliva.'

Lavender just groaned and buried her face. That was just what Parvati needed. Ammunition to tease even further. At least Luna just laughed. Luna who always seemed to grasp the inner truth. Luna who knew full well what had been going through her mind: that innate desire for companionship – and fun.


	148. Honestly, it was twenty years too late

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Pairing**: Sirius/Alice  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: Speed Drabble (Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, Term 3) – Sirius/Alice, clover, mead, 1 hour writing time

**.**

Honestly, it was twenty years too late. Or four or five.

The world was ecstatic, but quickly the newfound life became a thing of achievement, of award. The fact that Neville had his mother back meant little. The fact that Harry had his godfather back meant a little more – and that little more was balanced by the knowledge that Remus Lupin had passed away as well.

Two different achievements, but both Alice Longbottom and Sirius black found themselves at a bit of a loss. For Alice, it was because she last remembered being a mother to a one year old – a one year old that was now _twenty_-one, and married, and undergoing a Herbology master. And for Sirius, Harry Potter who'd struggling under the weight of distrust and expectation, was now doing things a normal twenty-one year old did. He had a job as a trainee Auror, a girlfriend, and was meeting friends for drinks at Hogsmeade every other Friday.

Sometimes Sirius would tag along and pick a table at the corner and have some Firewhiskey by himself. Harry said he didn't mind, except for the being by himself part. Then he invited Alice along, and that worked wonders because poor Alice didn't even have Frank waiting for him. He'd been one of the failures with the nerve regeneration. Alice had been one of the successes.

And Sirius had been one of the sole successes in the "from beyond the Veil" project – a waste of time in a great many people's opinions until it produced him. Not that it mattered. He'd slipped behind the veil and the world had moved on. She'd awoken from non-existence and the world had moved on. Their spots had been taken by other things: other people, other circumstances. She'd drink a mead with him and that was one of those fancy things few people ordered anymore. And Firewhiskey had become a drink of misery, a drink of loneliness. The both of them got odd looks with their choices. Not like Harry and his friends (including Neville) who were chugging down butterbeers – and they weren't even alcoholic, Sirius lamented, watching them.

'Things sure have changed,' one of them would mumble, watching. Then they'd chug down their drinks. And they'd stare at the new world, at how foreign it seemed even months later when all the hype around them had died down. How it was common to wear garlic or clover or acorn pendants in public. How even purebloods hung out in wizarding places without robes. How canes like Malfoy's were practically non-existent – it was really easy for them to keep count because they hadn't seen one yet. Little things that seemed so minor, but just went to show how different the world was when all added together.

It was a bit too late for them to think they could just walk back into the lives of their loved ones.


	149. It was vexing, but it was a weakness he

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character**: Aidan Lynch  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: the One Prompt, Many Fandoms Competition (August prompt: expanding horizons)

**.**

It was vexing, but it was a weakness he simply had to overcome.

Oh, he doubted the team would throw him out that quickly, but they couldn't be too impressed with him – even if they didn't say it to his face. He hadn't played much of a role in helping his team win after all. He'd let Krum get the snitch – and even though Krum was renown in the Seeker circles, it bit his pride.

And worse, he'd crashed twice because of Krum. He crashed many a time in practice but twice in a match that hadn't lasted all that long was hard to take, for his body and his soul. And it hadn't been accidentally flying too low or dodging his teammates bludgers or getting distracted by something or other. It was simply because Krum had outflown him both times, had pulled out of the dives with barely moments to spare – and not enough moments for he himself to follow suit.

So he had to practice. He had to be able to pull out of a dive that steep, chasing the snitch or following a feint or otherwise. It wasn't so important against some Seekers, those who didn't dive so sharply and feint so well. But Krum wasn't one of those. And Krum wasn't the only one. He was just the icing on the cake that was the World Cup finals and he'd been the only one on his team sub-par because of him.

Or because of his own ineptness with diving when faced with the finesse of a perfectly executed Wronski Feint like Krum's.


	150. Night-time was the time for owls to wake

**A/N:** This collection contains uncorrelated drabbles (no poetry) part of several different challenges (and possibly competitions too).

**.**

**Droplets that Disappear into the Rain**  
><em>a collection of drabbles<em>

**.**

**Character**: owls  
><strong>Challenge(s)<strong>: the One Prompt, Many Fandoms Competition (September prompt: start and end with the letter "n")

**.**

Night-time was the time for owls to wake from their slumber, but the post owls weren't normal owls. Some of them did keep their nocturnal pattern: the ones that belonged to large institutions but not to any one person, and particularly those who specialised in short deliveries that saw them to their destinations and back before the light of dawn. The ones who flew longer tended to nap along the way and, for a few days afterwards, find themselves dozing under the sky of stars.

But those who had owners tended to change. And it wasn't always because they loved them.

Sometimes it was simply a timetabling arrangement. They were fed twice a day: once in the mornings and once in the evenings. Some were let out in the evenings to fly about as well, but expected back before dark. Sometimes it was too nosy in the room they were kept in to sleep during the day: music blared or spells blasted and banged or people shouted… The night was the quiet they needed for sleep and their natural instinct to stay awake during that time slowly changed. Because the need for sleep outweighed the habit that dictated when, and they adapted to life with humans. They slipped into that schedule.

And for the ones who did love their owners, it was the time to hear that familiar voice and offer pecks of encouragement or looks of reprimand and take a few extra treats for their attention.


End file.
